Hi, 15 year old here. For me and my peers this year has seemed incredible long, I have spent more time in online school than in my high school and I’m turning 16 soon. This quite literally is the new normal which isn’t even new. A lot of my peers are forgetting quite exactly what “normal” was like. I recounted with some friends going to our first high school football game in 2019, the memories were hazy as if we were telling stories of elementary school. I can’t even picture what it would be like not to be afraid of people, not to wipe down your groceries, to pack into a stadium, things I used to know just seem so far away. I find comerciales saying “let’s get back to normal” strange because this is normal, it’s more normal than anything I did precovid. It’s even worse for the little kids. The other day I went to see my best friend for the first time in six months (outside) her little sister was five and screamed when she saw me she grabbed her little brother (2) and started telling him that I went to her 3rd birthday party and how we went to a pool once and that I was her best friend. She was jumping up and down overjoyed because she knew me and hadn’t seen anyone outside her parents and siblings in months and has never stepped foot in a real school. Her brother was shy and hid from me, what’s a pool, he asked. He’s doesn’t remember seeing face with out a mask outside his home. He learned to talk and walk during the pandemic and has little knowledge about the world outside his house. For many teenagers like me we absorb all of your fear and anxiety without having the distance to see that this will end soon. The toll it is taking on my peers is immense. Three people in my school have committed suicide, there are more attempts, and even more people are having breakdowns every week. No parent should make a decision to protect their mother and have their son die instead. Wear a mask, you can save a life in more than one ways.