Westlake Word

It’s an extremely strange time for everyone in the nation, as the Coronavirus pandemic sweeps through the world. People have been asked to self-quarantine and to stay home as much as possible. 

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However, there are some people still leaving their houses and braving being in the general public, all for the sake of helping others. 

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More than ever, we have been leaning on “essential workers,”, such as doctors, nurses,  and cashiers to help our society continue on despite the ridiculous circumstances. These workers get up very early just to get to work on time and help the general public. Doctors and nurses attended to the sick and injured— putting themselves directly into harm’s way for the sake of helping others. 

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Chefs and delivery drivers get up every morning to make sure everyone can order fresh and delicious food whenever they need it. These people even go out of their way to make sure everything is safe to eat and that everyone stays safe throughout the delivery. 

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Cashiers, like a few of my friends, spend their day in close proximity to others buying themselves the groceries they need to help society overall. Without cashiers and other workers at supermarkets, we wouldn’t be able to go out and buy the food and toiletries that are necessary for our daily lives. 

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Without these people putting their own health and safety on the line, our society would not function at the level that it is. We continue on only with the invaluable help of our essential workers. 

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The essential workers who must leave their houses every day and continue to go outside and work have to deal with the stress of making sure everyone is social distancing correctly and that they are all wearing masks in order to limit the amount of contamination in the workplace.

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These people also have to deal with very stressed out people just shopping for groceries or ordering a nice dinner who only want some safe semblance of their normal lives which have been so strangely interrupted. 

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Many seem to overlook these simple, everyday heroes who only earn about minimum wage for their herculean efforts. However, especially in such a time as this pandemic, essential workers are and always have been the backbone of our society, providing food, healthcare, and many other services that are necessary for our society to function. 

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For all their hard work, essential workers are deserving of far more than just some gratitude, though it is all I have to offer at the current moment.