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Oliver: ‘The Martian’ offers some lessons similar to living through pandemic

Since we’ve hit the two-year mark since the beginning of the pandemic, perhaps it’s time to look back and at what, if anything, we’ve learned.

Perhaps in the hustle and bustle of trying to return to “normal,” we’re more than ready to put the past couple of years in the rearview mirror. That’s understandable. No doubt we all have some emotional scars, if not real ones, from this journey.

My husband, Tony, and I aren’t the biggest movie watchers, and it often takes us a long time to see anything. When we finally got around to watching the movie “The Martian” from 2015 and starring Matt Damon recently, I discovered a way to describe how dealing with the pandemic felt for me.

Granted, I had read the book by Andy Weir around the time my mother was in hospice in 2018. I absolutely loved the book and recommend it highly if you’re looking for something to read.

The book and movie center on the challenges astronaut Mark Watney (Damon) faces when he is stranded on Mars by himself. His five crewmates leave without him during a fierce storm, believing him dead.

Somehow, though, Watney lives and makes it back to the base. He soon realizes he will have to figure out how to stay alive and let NASA and his crewmates know he’s still there.

What absolutely inspired and fascinated me is how resourceful and science-based all of Watney’s solutions are. He “sciences” his way through every problem, all with some hilarious wisecracks.

When the pandemic began, we were all thrown into a situation that was foreign and very challenging. Few of us had ever had to be cut off from our friends and families for any length of time.

Remember those first days when it was almost impossible to find paper products? When the store shelves were empty? Sometimes we had to take deep breaths and figure it out.

In “The Martian,” Watney calculates how long his food supply will last. Having the food that would have fed six people all to himself seems like a good thing until he figures out how long it will take another mission to get to him. Then he must “science” a way to grow his own food on the surface of Mars. Then he must figure out how to get water to make his food grow. And on and on.

For a lot of us, getting food during those first days of the pandemic wasn’t quite that hard, but it did take some creative thinking. Some dear friends of ours went out of their way to do our weekly shopping. When delivery services became more available, we shifted to that. Still, sometimes finding certain items took a bit of detective work and luck. Sometimes we just had to figure out another way to do things.

NASA eventually figures out that Watney is alive, and they come up with a way to communicate with him. In time, his crewmates find out that he’s alive as well, and they begin exchanging messages. No doubt this helped Watney to cope with the isolation.

During the pandemic, who knew how valuable videoconferencing services like Zoom would become? Being able to see my friends made the fact that Tony and I were unable to get out much bearable. We’ve even been able to be more regular in “visiting” our friends in Kentucky, something that wasn’t possible previously.

After some heroics, Watney is rescued when his crewmates go back to get him. By then, however, the time on Mars and the rationing of his food supply have left him looking worse for wear. His ordeal was difficult, but he was alive.

The last scene of the movie shows him back on Earth and teaching future astronauts how to survive should they ever face something similar.

That may be the most powerful lesson for me. What have the past two years taught me and how can I use those lessons in the future?

Yes, it was an ordeal, but we’re still here. Now let’s do something with it.

Joan Oliver is the former Northwest Herald assistant news editor. She has been associated with the Northwest Herald since 1990. She can be reached at jolivercolumn@gmail.com.

Joan Oliver

Joan Oliver

A 30-year newspaper veteran who has been a copy editor, front-page editor, presentation editor, assistant news editor and publication editor, as well as a columnist and host of an online newspaper newscast.