Permanently Pandemic World?

History has seen many eras. Each era is a division of time usually based on certain events known for changing the course of mankind. In a way, each era is about upheavals and unpredictability. Based on such categorization, we are currently going through a global crisis caused by a very tiny, obscure minuscule virus. It has been a year now since we entered to Covid Era.

Whatever existed before Covid Era—the world we lived in—has now come to be known as The Before Times. The nostalgic good times before the pandemic have tuned into the killjoy of the Covid Era. Perhaps, everything in The Before Times seems collapsed. From economies, education systems to social interactions, every aspect of life underwent a drastic transformation. Everything was replaced with something. We found ourselves struggling in new situations where we have had to adapt. From wearing face masks for protection to making it a fashion, we were forced to stay indoors and have coronacation. Locked in, we strived to reconnect and revisit old memories and build a new frame of belonging. The unthinkable became true. The surreal turned real. It was like a mammoth coronacoaster. While it proved to be the time of collective bereavement, the Covid Era unravelled humanity’s power of compassion and care. Thousands of Corona Warriors risked their lives to save the infected. Amidst what they call as “Coronacalypse” where disease, despair and death reined, the world witnessed a new face of suffering and hope. We saw people dying without being mourned. We saw people separated without notice. Everything happened without asking us; without preparing us. We were totally defenceless as the acute ambush of Nature invaded us.  The world was caught unawares and taken aback.

   

While our world stands rattled and life altered forever because of Covid Era, we are still trying to pleat the scattered bits and come over the losses. There are some crucial learnings from the last year. There is a need to recalibrate the concept and plans about human development holistically. While Covid Era has identified and amplified various lacunas regarding societal ethics and collective consciousness, there is a call for examining the bias in the concept of public morality and inclusive development.  There were scenes of hunger, helplessness, and poor people walking barefoot—all along with the political opportunism and buffoonery that settled in as coronavirus braced up.       

One thing is quite certain. The world won’t be the same again. With the heavy baggage of pain and disorder wreaked in by coronavirus, it won’t be easier for people to grow and move forward in a typical and predictable manner. Our response to Covid-19 is still not shaping up properly. It hasn’t helped us much in becoming more responsible and resilient versions of ourselves. Many of us still take it as the casual flu or even link it up with some weird conspiracies! In fact, countering the deluge of endless misinformation about the pandemic is also emerging as a separate challenge. With millions dead by this pandemic so far, we are not ready to admit our missteps to ourselves. The talk of ‘neo natural security’ aiming to make societies resilient in the face of risks stemming from their connection to the living world, whether because of disease, food insecurity, biological warfare or environmental degradation is already picking up. This whole pandemic is a small indication from the skies about our mishandling of this beautiful planet. And yet, we wait for more doom to alarm us.

Conversely, this pandemic can be viewed as a stimulus to think about life and the world differently. The importance of solace in suffering; panacea in pain; tutorial in torment; and a message in mortality—all this pointing towards the immense power of kindness within us. An Arab-American poet Naomi Shihab hints:

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,

you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.

You must wake up with sorrow.

You must speak to it till your voice

catches the thread of all sorrows….

Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,

only kindness that ties your shoes

and sends you out into the day to gaze at bread,

only kindness that raises its head

from the crowd of the world to say

It is I you have been looking for,

and then goes with you everywhere

like a shadow or a friend.   

Bottomline: We need to understand that the Covid-19 virus is not a hoax and we have to live along with it. Without any kind of controversy, social distancing, mask-wearing and hand hygiene are so far considered as the best possible preventive measures. As we are witnessing another spike in Covid-19 cases, it becomes more imperative for us not to lower our guard and follow the protocol.

The battle is still not over. We have to keep protecting ourselves and our loved ones. Because as long as Covid-19 is still being transmitted, it raises the chances of a mutation that can defy any vaccine. Besides, as long as vaccine doses are reserved by wealthy nations, ending pandemic anywhere won’t be possible unless coronavirus is defeated everywhere. This is the time of great reckoning. As Covid-19 vaccines are being administered and the world has started imagining a “new normal”, we should think and explore ways to prevent the next pandemic, and antidote for dismantling structural inequalities in ruling systems while ensuring better health and life for all.

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