Quarantine has hit us all in more ways than we can count. Entire states have shut down, millions have lost their jobs, and social isolation from the ones we love has taken its toll. No matter who we are or where we call home, the coronavirus quarantine has affected us in unique and personal ways.

Simply put, coronavirus is unprecedented and totally unexpected. It's disrupted our economy and our ways of life. It's canceled entire semesters of school and sent students home to take classes via Zoom and other online platforms.

A student at the University of Maryland went viral after tweeting about a college professor denying her extension and telling her it would be good if she could make it to class on the day of her father's funeral. Things like this wake us up to our lack of compassion for one another. It shows us what we have not been prioritizing and that which, after the pandemic ceases and life returns to normal, we will put more of our energy, effort, and heart behind.

To live in our world, in the midst of all that's happening, takes the courage to care for others. To drop our stereotypes and predispositions against people. Asians and Asian Americans are experiencing racism, xenophobia, and discrimination. Communities of color are being hit the hardest. The lesson that comes from all of this is to come together as people and communities.

Because coronavirus is bigger than any one person — it spreads person to person, through our shared spaces and through our connections with other people. It's highlighting the real interconnectedness of people all around the world. And even if that interconnectedness has allowed a pandemic to spread, it is still revealing just how intimately we all exist with each other.

So many businesses have shut down, leaving millions of people without jobs. Systems for receiving unemployment benefits glitched and broke, causing frustration and leaving people without any means to get food and basic necessities.

However, while things we love and care deeply about are shut down due to the pandemic, we are, as one creator wrote, "mighty and resilient." Many celebrities have taken their money to donate to people and organizations that are in desperate need. Convenience store chain Sheetz even began giving out free kids meals as a promotion to make sure children had something to eat.

Coronavirus has changed us all a little bit. If only in minor ways. It's affected our personal lives and has made us reconsider our lives, what's important to us, and how we live in a world where something so major can affect us so quickly.

If we learn one thing from this pandemic, it's that we have a choice in looking out for each other, in living with compassion, and that we are a connected community that, when we come together, can outlast even the cruelest of diseases.