Prompt: The 9th Letter | Word Count: 250 words exactly | Genre: fiction
March 28, 2020
Whether you’re a boomer or a millennial, you’ve doubtlessly been dubbed the “me generation”. A self-absorbed focus earned the moniker. “I” this and “I” that. Me, me, me. But in this time of crisis, those “I’s” are turning resolutely to “we.”
An example? How’s this:
Leaders around the world called for people to “isolate”.
At first, the ninth letter dominates. “I” don’t have to worry, “I’m” young. “I’m” invincible. “I’ll” be ok. Beaches crowded. Restaurants full. Handshakes. Parties.
The counter: This isn’t about you! This is about everyone else. Well, maybe just a bit about you. But mostly it’s about them. It’s about letter twenty-one.
The result: beaches empty. Aisles vacate. Streets untrafficked. Millennials move home. Boomers once again sandwiched between parents and grown children.
Instead, you turn to your technology and computers and create a social experience for everyone.
You gather in virtual zoom rooms with your instruments and strike up the band. Concerts played virtually, together.
You post YouTube videos of hilariously complex Rube Goldberg contraptions. Entertainment redefined.
You start a Facebook group offering to help members of your community by locating and delivering the necessities they need.
You start a chalk drawing on the sidewalk and your neighbors each continue it until the street swims in color.
Soon it’s clear that spreading alongside the virus is a new sense of community. Even in our separateness, the “I” and the “U” join into we. Togetherness apart is the new world order.
cecekay 