The morbidity of the current phase the world is experiencing needs no introduction. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect something like this. As a child, my Social Studies teacher explained, in detail about a disease, an epidemic and a pandemic and the impact of an epidemic on the economy. The teacher insisted that these topics are important from the exam point of view.
Those long, sleepy, boring afternoons were gone writing down notes about all these topics. I always wondered why Social Studies class was during the after-lunch session. I cursed the Ministry of Education for including these topics in the syllabus.
“With all the advancements in Science, Technology and Medicine, is it even possible to have a pandemic? Why are they making us learn all these definitions?”, I complained to my friends. Today I have to eat my words.
“How did we get here?”, sometimes I wonder. How did we forget to learn from the experience of other countries suffering from this crisis? Why did some national leaders get complacent and what on earth convinced them that this deadly virus will not reach their shores? With a plethora of social media platforms like Whatsapp, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and what not filling up our airspace and phones with a tsunami of information from every far corner of the earth, how did we not take care and proper precautions to avoid the spread of this deadly disease? Did we really need the government to lay down an iron-handed rule before we take things seriously?
While some people took the required precautions, some of us took to the beach. While some headed to the supermarket to hoard up supplies, some used the time to party with friends and family. I don’t blame any of them, in fact, I never expected the world to come to a standstill, nor did I believe that so many innocent lives will be lost.
Today the hospitals are like a war zone and all the hospital staff are the brave soldiers fighting to save humanity. The police force that normally is engrossed in fighting crime is playing the roles of either a kind mother begging people to stay home or a desperate father who does not hesitate to serve a few hot ones with his cane just to keep people safe. The internet is flooded with sad stories, the newspapers are crying out woeful figures of fresh new cases and news channels on T.Vs, show videos and images that bring tears to the eyes of even the hardest hearted person.
My heart is filled with pain for those who are suffering and fear for the safety of my family and friends. Doubts loom large in my mind about how long will it take for this dark spell to break? When will the economies around the world heal? Is there any use in the blame game that is making rounds in the world of rumours? These dark times forecast a bleak tomorrow. As the world is choked with desolation, all we can think of now is to get down on our knees, look up to the sky and pray.
Pray for hope, pray for the lives that are battling for a breath of air, pray for a safer tomorrow for all of us. Stay home and stay safe.
Random Musings 