Low Residency becomes Very Low Residency

With the current restrictions on gatherings, my MFA alma mater, Pacific University, has decided to make its June residency  a virtual experience.

I know how much I looked forward to seeing everyone and working with the fabulous faculty and staff in person at Pacific in January and June during my MFA studies, and my heart goes out to the students who will be affected by this.

And yet, this is just one small program experiencing what nearly all schools, and students of all ages are experiencing.

Maybe I am only capable of thinking in terms of this single example because it is familiar to me.

More likely, I am only capable of thinking in terms of Pacific's June Residency because to try to fathom this pandemic's affect on all education would be overwhelming. Is this my imagination, blocked by the limits of my underdeveloped compassion? Or is my empathy protected by the limits of my imagination? Which attribute has the veto power preventing me from contemplating what is really happening in the world?