– All it took for the world economies to collapse was for the world to stand still for 2 weeks. Begging the question – how sustainable is this model?
– We all now know the difference between ‘essential’ goods and ‘non-essential’ goods
– We all know who step forward or don’t step back (or have no option but to) when a crisis hits – doctors, nurses, police, government administrators, municipality workers, delivery professionals, etc. These are the folks we’ve turn to in this hour of need. Have we valued them enough all this while? If not, what moral right to have to depend on them?
– We’ve discovered how addicted we’ve become after shopping and booze stopped; and how empty our lives are without them
– Migrant exodus has painfully made aware the vast chasm between the India that could afford to work from home and the India that could not feed itself, if out of work for a day
– We believed we are the masters of our fate. Then the pandemic raged limiting our mobility. The workplaces we worshiped asked us not to come, the bars we frequent shut their shop, the temples we trekked to, closed their doors. And, the rate with which the virus affected the rich and the poor across geographies and increasing fatalities only exacerbated the illusion that we are the masters of our destiny. (Humility is the word I believe we are looking for)
– Look for the helpers. Reading heartwarming stories, not of the wealthy donors who share a pitiful, but such as of the poor lady who took rice at the government ration shop, but gave back half of it to the authorities asking them to share it with the needy; and of the old retired lady who donated a Lakh to the government to fight the pandemic, from her pension fund, when governments are themselves saying they cannot pay full salaries and pensions. Incidents like these renew my belief in humanity
– Mental health, the oft neglected topic is now a trendy catchphrase. Everyone seems to be worried about it. Erstwhile individuals who scoffed at the idea, who could not wrap their heads around the idea or felt it affected only weak individuals, are now staring at how empty their lives have suddenly become and are facing mental crisis themselves
– Ever increasing death tolls, newspapers showcasing mass burials have brought the idea of our mortality right to our face. Mortality, the thought we contemplate only when when we see the death of a closed one, is in the news all the time, increasing fear for our lives and of the ones we love. We are seeing how ephemeral our lives are and how indifferent nature is
I don’t know how this pandemic will end. But, I know that it is decimating many of the beliefs we have about the world and our lives. And rightly so. Even WE, should not let the crisis go waste. Let’s reflect, re-evaluate and re-emerge anew.
Stay home, stay safe. And where possible, help others. Let our conscience be the guide.
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