The pandemic and the lost dreams of a junior engineer

Everything seemed to go well in the winter of 2019 in Mexico City, but it was exactly a year ago, on February of 2020 when television networks, news outlets and social networks informed that the first case of SARS-CoV-2 had been detected in Mexico. Until that moment, the student community belonging to higher education, which I was a part of, had seen a similar case 11 years before, in 2009, with the A H1N1 influenza, without evident consequences. With the help of digital technology, we got news from all over the world regarding the expansion of COVID-19. We would read about politicians establishing drastic and unimaginable preventive measures such as the closure of borders and airports, the use of face masks, eyewear, gloves, etc. Likewise, a ‘war’ broke out between the main global powers over security inputs and to find who was guilty and/or responsible for this virus. The blame was placed on the vendors and consumers of the market in the city of Wuhan in China, due to a bat soup or eating pangolin. Mexicans are characteristically known for our dark humor and the way in which we laugh at hardships. The jokes with COVID-19 were inevitable. But we had no idea what lay ahead for us. Wednesday, March 18, 2020, was the last day I entered the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Xochimilco (UAM-X) in a normal way. That day, we only went to find out which our grades were going to be for the eleventh, penultimate, term of my degree. When we left my professor’s office, delighted with my grades, three friends and I decided to celebrate with beers and finger foods in the Xochimilco wharf, near the university. That was the day I later called ‘the silent goodbye to our dreams’. But meanwhile, we enjoyed being only three months away from …graduating! Some were doing their undergraduate social service and others would begin soon. We would comment and laugh. ‘Yeah, my friend. In a year we’ll be here as engineers, working on whatever we want, on something we like, holding the name of UAM-X high’. We would chat about our experiences and thank our beautiful ‘House open to time’. Words thrown to the wind with a touch of happiness and hope, perhaps with much innocence, since we had no idea of the labor market in a country like ours. Dreams, beautiful dreams that drowned as months went by. At exactly 17:00 h, we said goodbye, and our last words were, ‘see you in two weeks’. Two days later, the Mexican government announces that all non-essential activity, including educational activities, was suspended until April 20, and social distancing and voluntary home confinement were in place. The development of the pandemic in Mexico forced the government to extend preventive COVID-19 measures. We started to realize what was going on. There was still much confusion. We knew everything was lost when they told us that the lessons for the twelfth and thirteenth terms would be online, via Zoom or Google Classroom. Goodbye graduation, goodbye to the last get-togethers with classmates, goodbye professors, goodbye to my beloved alma mater. Time kept ticking, never stopping. What did come to a stop were the hopes of all my classmates, friends, my own, our ambitions of working on the fields of Mexico as freshly graduated agronomists. Practicing the theory and ethics that our professors and our university had taught us for four years. Serving our country, our society, finding solutions to problems on the field; social problems, economic problems, from the different areas in which an agronomist and anyone who graduated from UAM-X is trained to cope... All that was left were ‘lost dreams, lost dreams of someone recently graduated, thanks to the pandemic’. Mental problems and anxieties trouble us. Digital technology has stopped being a hobby to be used for its intended purpose, a beneficial everyday tool for human beings. I mention this because thanks to digital media, I have kept in touch with my friends and professors and I have taken some agronomy courses I was interested in. We all complain about this pandemic, we all say it truncated our path and we all have anxieties for having to stay at home. Our everyday lives have changed; some people don’t accept this and have suffered the consequences of it. Some people go about their lives, regardless of what may happen. Different thoughts, but with a common and inevitable reality that I can summarize in three words: ‘fear of death’. As a final thought on what has occurred in these long months of the pandemic, I can express that, as young adults we must let go of consumerism and learn to manage our time and money. To be determined and focus on what we want and need, regardless of outside opinions, yet accept our abilities and limitations to make assertive decisions. To acknowledge and defend our convictions in politics, religion and social networks regarding how we dress, our sexuality, music, and sports such as soccer. Acknowledge their vlues in our daily lives. Not wanting to emulate tendencies or people of a higher social class; accepting the reality we live in, identifying the way things are. The way we are. To value and respect everyone who is a part of our lives. We must work to obtain what we want and end absurd stereotypes. To awaken that nationalistic spirit that we have fallen behind with as Mexicans, to feel proud of belonging to this country and give back to Mexico all it has given us by working hard and lending a hand in society. From here, I thank my parents for supporting me all through my life, regardless of what I did or how. I thank and hold deep love for the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Unidad Xochimilco for having given me the pleasure of its student community. I thank my professors that supported me from May 9, 2016 until today. Some I agreed with in thought and with others, not so much, but I learned lots from them all. I hope others identify with these words I spilled with honesty onto these pages. I am eager for this pandemic to be controlled soon; that there are no more human losses, that the Mexican agriculture goes back to normal and that the economy also slowly recovers. But especially, that the thousands of newly graduated agronomists, those of us who live with frustrated dreams...losted, can work in educational, professional and scientific fields.