What the Coronavirus taught us so far?
What the Coronavirus taught us so
far?
“A week is a long time in politics,”
said the former Prime Minister of Britain Lord Harold Wilson. Now, given the
Coronavirus crises in the world, few hours are a long time in life. From Wuhan
to Lampordy, to all over the globe, Coronavirus has claimed and continue to
claim many lives, and more dangerously, brought Humanity to its knees. The
virus closed schools, bars, businesses; grounded aeroplanes; cancelled all
sports schedules; closed the gates that never is closed like religious
worshipping places. Coronavirus even separated people from their mothers in
Mother’s Day, for fear of carrying the infection to them. This is truly is an
unprecedented time. The World Health Organisation (WHO) had declared a global
pandemic and issued many guidelines on how to tackle the crisis. Every crisis
brings lessons to learn, so in this short article, I will try to talk about the
things that, so far, the Coronavirus taught us about ourselves.
What is Coronavirus?
According to WHO, “Coronaviruses are
a family of viruses that range from the common cold to MERS coronavirus, which
is Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus and SARs, Severe acute
respiratory syndrome coronavirus.”
Coronavirus impacted on all aspects
of people’s lives and changed the way we usually live our lives. Governments
around the world imposed drastic measures to control social distances, so the
vulnerable groups of the community can be protected. This triggered panic
buying and consumers emptying the supermarket shelves from essential items such
as; food, loo rolls and sanitisers. At the time of adversity is the time the
heroes are born. Coronavirus might have brought death and disruption, but waves
of heroes have risen to safe and serve their fellow humans without giving a
toss about how they look like or what they believe. Humanity still is full of
good people.
Heroes of Coronavirus
The impact of Coronavirus on our
lives is unprecedented, however, on the other hand, the disease sparked the
community spirit of kindness, compassion and empathy and, gave birth to waves
of “Coronavirus Heroes”. A letter was pushed through my letterbox by strangers
offering me help. They said in the message: “we don’t ask for anything in
return; we just believe in helping each other in a time of difficulty”. How
refreshing is that to see an army of complete strangers going around people’s
homes to offer assistance of basically everyday life? From doing shopping on
behalf of self-isolating people to walking their dogs; and even delivering
ready meals to the most vulnerable groups of the society. Naturally, I was
chuffed to receive that letter, although I do not fall into the categories of
people that require assistance in these difficult times. Likewise, indeed,
scientists are at the forefront of “Coronavirus Heroes” some locked themselves
in science labs working hard day and night to conduct researches about COVID-19
and produce vaccination for the virus. Similarly, selfless doctors, nurses,
paramedics, cleaners and all frontline workers like the scientists, are the
true heroes of Humanity in these worrying times.
Things Coronavirus Taught us so far
Throughout human history, people
reached many milestones of their lives and learned so many things that they
were ignorant of. For example, the Great World Wars taught us that in wars,
there are no winners and losers, when we fight against each other, we all lose.
At the moment, it seems that Humanity is turning a new page of their
development, and the Coronavirus is teaching us many valuable lessons, although
harshly. Coronavirus taught us that:
- We (humans) are an insignificant and delicate creature in this
world. Late professor Stephen Hawking once said “The human race is just a
chemical scum, on a moderate-sized planet, orbiting around a very average
star in the outer suburb of one among a hundred billion galaxies. We are
so insignificant that I can’t believe the whole universe exists for our
benefit. That would be like saying that you would disappear if I closed my
eyes”. The professor has a point here, although I do not necessarily agree
with him whether the universe exists for our benefit. That is an argument
for another day. But he is spot on that humans are jumping over their
weight compared to the vast universe surrounding us. The earth, our home,
is a tiny pixel compared to the sun, which also a small dot in the Milky
Way Galaxy. And our galaxy is a teeny spot in the Virgo Cluster galaxies,
and so on. Not only the Coronavirus taught us how small we are, but it
also educated us how delicate and weak we are. Furthermore, it trained us
that we do not know everything out there, our knowledge of our
surroundings is limited, and we are prone to illnesses.
2.
More importantly, the Coronavirus taught us to
appreciate the unsung heroes of the human race: Scientists, doctors, nurses,
paramedics and other frontline workers. Scientists, for example, throughout
history are underappreciated, although in the last couple of centuries at least
in some corners their worth is recognised. Millions of people used to die every
year for uncomplicated infections like seasonal flu before Sir Alexander
Fleming, in 1923, discovered benzylpenicillin (Penicillin G) that is
antibiotics. Thus, singlehandedly saved and continue to safe millions with his
discovery.
3. Also, Coronavirus taught us the importance of following the guidelines
of scientists and that of medical officials. We all are glued to our devices to
listen to these experts, even those who usually underestimate the advice of
scientists are encouraging their followers to adhere to the guidelines of
physicians.
4. Likewise, Coronavirus taught us that we all are equal, whether we are
Chinese, European or African. As the saying goes ‘what is good for the goose is
good for the gander, contrary to that, whatever hurts one of us it will hurt
the other by default. In other words, the virus does not recognise ethnicity,
belief, or social status. The disease killed doctors and nurses, young and old,
people with faith or without.
5. Coronavirus also taught us to be kind to one another and reminded us of
our very task in this life, which is to look after each other and particularly,
look out for the vulnerable of the community. The disease ignited our natural
instincts of empathy and compassion. These are the qualities humans are born
with, which distinguishes them from other creatures that we know of. No matter
how much empathy you teach your dog or your cat, they will never be as
compassionate as humans. Your pets may obey you because you feed them but will
not have capabilities of compassion to a stranger, for example. Since the
crisis has begun, throughout the globe, the level of compassion and kindness of
people has rocketed. More and more people are volunteering to help others. Some
are cooking hundreds of meals daily and delivering them to those less
fortunate. Some volunteered their time to assist others with their daily
routine.
6. On the institutional level, Coronavirus taught governments around the
world to invest more in health care systems. After all, if (God forbid)
millions die for COVID-19, governments will not have people to govern, and
their economy will go rock bottom and recovery will be a long and painful
process.
As Coronavirus is changing the way we
live, are we on the verge of a new era? For example, are the new phrases like
‘social distancing’ or ‘self-isolating’ suggesting a new way of life that
awaits us in the corner? We have seen congregations of churches, mosques and
synagogues conducting prayers via digital networks, instead of having crowds in
their places. These are entities that generally rely on social gathering in
their places, but social distancing measures led to the closure of these places
because of COVID-19.
Villains of Coronavirus
Where there are heroes, there are villains
too. In other words, Coronavirus revealed some people’s true colours and showed
their greed and selfishness. In recent days, I was in one of the supermarkets,
and I saw elderly people dragging their empty shopping trolleys in absolutely
deserted isles. One elderly lady got a bottle of cooking oil while wandering
around the shop, a young man sneaked behind her, nicked the oil from her. After
a while, a loud cry echoed through the supermarket, everyone rushed to the
elderly lady. While crying, she said the only piece of shopping she could make
today has been nicked from her, and she will not leave the shop without finding
out who nicked it. The shop security searched the CCTV cameras, and after
identifying the culprit, we all took our frustration to the man and shouted
some abuse toward the perpetrator. The problem started when the panic buyers
stockpiled in their houses far more food than they can consume, and in their
selfish process, leaving others without food. This triggered an emotional plea
and condemnation by a critical care nurse Dawn Bilbrough when she was shocked
to find nothing in the supermarkets after a long shift caring for the sick. She
famously said: “You just need to stop it because it’s people like me who are
going to be looking after you when you’re at your lowest, so just stop it,
please.”
Moreover, some big corporations
greedily laid off work their staff and forced them to take unpaid leave. For
example, billionaire Richard Branson, Virgin Atlantic boss, had reportedly
coerced his staff to take an unpaid eight weeks leave. Labour MP Angela Rayner
condemning the act tweeted: “Richard, flog your private island and pay your
staff, we are in unprecedented times here. Now is the time your staff need
support after making mountains of cash for the company.” More shockingly, some radical
mullahs and clerics outpoured some ignorant messages undermining the human
efforts to protect people from Coronavirus and claimed that the hand of God is
behind the disease.
In the final analysis, the Coronavirus
crisis, as all things do, will pass. But it’s clear and simple that Coronavirus
had changed our lives forever, but the question is: did we absorb the messages
that Coronavirus carried over to us? Are we planning to implement the lessons
we learned so it will reflect on our lives from now on? I will leave you with
the wise words of the Chancellor (and perhaps, the next Prime Minister) Rishi
Sunak. He said: “When this is over, and it will be over, we want to look back
at this moment and remember the many small acts of kindness done by us and to
us. We want to look back this time and remember how we thought first of others
and acted with decency. We want to look back on this time and remember how, in
the face of a generation-defining moment, we undertook a collective national
effort - and we stood together. It’s on all of us.” Indeed, it’s up to all of
us to grab this opportunity and learn from this experience.
Abdiaziz Arab
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