Work as one

Year 7 student Ryan Raglin’s entry to the BGS Writing Prize is notable for the conviction with which he writes. Despite the many flaws of human nature acknowledged in Ryan’s piece, he reminds his reader of all that we are capable of when we work as one. 

Last year we envisioned a brand new, clean drawing board, wiped from all the troubles and misfortunes of the past year. Now, many of us are facing despair and sadness; we are all losing control of our normal lives as COVID-19 continues to devour all our normal activities. We cannot see our friends, go to school or work, or in some cases, even go outside.

Instead of being selfish and not obeying the rules that were specifically designed to protect our health, we need to be considerate of others and work as one. Stay home, wear masks when you must go out and keep your distance. COVID-19 does not care who it infects. It is extremely dangerous, and unless you want to jeopardize one quarter of the people in your country, be sensible and be kind.

This goes out to all the extraordinarily brave doctors, police officers, firefighters, teachers, supermarket workers and many other essential workers who continue to serve their neighbourhoods with all the strength they have. Continue doing it, because when the dust settles and the COVID-19 mess is over, you will be the ones that stand out from the crowd.

And this one goes out to all the people who feel helpless and sad as their once normal lives are slowly being filled to the brim with precautions to fight COVID-19.

Even when we are alone, we are together. We are humans. We can build skyscrapers hundreds of feet tall; we can invent medicines that can help save thousands of people, we can make flying machines, we can record time and we can save the planet from ourselves.

Ryan Raglin
Year 7