Patience. Independence. Adaptability. Gratitude. Acceptance. Some people need their whole lives to learn these things. Others learn them sooner, rather than later. And then there are some who learn them even earlier than most.
When it comes to that last group, graduates of the Class of 2021 come to mind. As their junior year wound down and their senior year started up, they were hit with something a whole lot more surprising than some pop quiz. They were confronted with the COVID-19 pandemic, a subject unlike those with which their predecessors in recent generations had to contend.
In addition to math, science, English and history, the graduates of Wells, Sanford and Kennebunk high schools took crash courses in sacrifice, perseverance, the unexpected, and, quite frankly, grave matters of health and safety. They did not receive grades in these crash courses, but they received life lessons that will serve them moving forward.
Researchers have known that 2020 was the deadliest year in U.S. history, primarily because of COVID-19. But the data released this week showed the biggest increases in the death rates for heart disease and diabetes in at least 20 years.