In Western Civilization our students are learning the causes, growths and impacts of the Black Death on the European population as well as how the late 14th century was a time of war and economic uncertainty. Even though we are separated by the High Middle Ages by hundreds of years we can see how the human emotion of fear over this uncertainty is one that transcends time and culture. Our world is a shaken place and the fear and anxiety of the unknown is one that haunts us as we look forward to the future. The same can be said of Europeans in the past. To have an exercise in this idea of empathy the students in Western Civilization are taking part in a creative writing assignment in which they are going to create a character that lived through the period of time known as the Black Death. It will be curious to note if there will be a transference of ideas of fear of the present manifested in the creation of this work of historical fiction from our students’ current and recent experiences with the Coivd-19 pandemic to that of one of the worst pandemics in human history.
Mr. Holden
