Submitted By: Garcia, Denisse V.

Subject: Journalism Principles and Practice

Year & Course: III - AB COMM

Finals Examination: Coping with The Pandemic

An unnoticed glitch has altered people's lives all throughout the world. The world
is in the midst of one of the biggest health, economic, and political crises in decades.
Regrettably, this is a common reality, a disaster that has struck and connected us all.
The majority of Filipinos and the majority of cities in the Philippines live on a shoestring
budget. The pandemic has had the greatest impact on the majority of people. The poor
in rural areas, on the other hand, have a better situation. Because they were largely
farmers, their livelihood was not as impacted as city inhabitants. However, due to the
economic slowdown, their products do not benefit them as much as they did before the
pandemic, because demand was considerably lower, and marketers and dealers had
less access to rural areas. In this article, the ways how Filipinos cope up with the
pandemic will be discussed. The first interviewee, Andrea (21) will be stating her
personal experience with the pandemic. "I live carefully. I stay at home, mostly I am on
the computer and I write in my diary, I write to people I know, chat online. I use video
calls with family. I read, read, read. I am the cook in the house, so I am kept busy.
Sometimes, I clean the ‘old’ stuff out of the house, fix broken stuff just to keep busy. I
am not too worried about catching the virus, if it happens, it happens and that's what I
believe in. Nobody lives forever but of course, I try not to get it, I have waited for a
vaccine to be developed and so when it became available in the Philippines, I urgently
got mine from manila. It was a quick process and we did not have a hard time getting it
since we went through the drive-thru. I used to go out a lot after school before the
pandemic, which is on hold. I am very lucky to not have to work on a daily basis which is
the best. We will get through this. We just need to keep our mind busy, and keep our
body fit.". Our next interviewee, Christian (18) said that he has experienced varied
emotions during these testing times. Anxious -> Happy -> Bored -> Scared -> Coping ->
Peace. "The first three months were really awful for me. I hated being all alone. I missed
my gym, I missed other people, and most of all I missed hugs. I kept busy playing online
games such as Call of Duty Mobile or Mobile Legends and reading and working out on
my own. After that, I got some visits from my friends, which helped tremendously. My
trainers (person, and basketball) started coming to our house to help me work out
properly. So, at this point, I’m doing pretty well. Our third interviewee, Eunice (18) stated
that she loved staying indoors to be extra careful during this pandemic. Spending family
time was really important since she believes that covid had been the reason for us to
clearly see that we must value our family more especially during these rough times. She
also believes that sparing time for oneself is essential and that the pandemic helped
improve the ecosystem and be free from pollution. There are no long hours of traveling
to and from work. There are more time for hobbies and learning something new.
Connecting with family and friends had been valued more and knowing how difficult
house chores are. "It had been difficult for many of us since we tend to get bored
through the same thing that we do every day, but we will all get through this. This
January, the government already stated that there would be a limited face-to-face class
implemented which is I am very excited about," she added. This pandemic had made
life difficult for all of us. However, we should be happy for the blessings (getting a new
day) and remember that the more we have, the more we have to share, as with the laws
of giving and receiving. To assist and cure ourselves and others, use methods such as
prayers, affirmations, and positive thinking. Believe in endless abundance, discipline,
and good karma, or the spiritual law of cause and effect. During the Covid-19 era, this is
how we should live every day.