How to get through the pandemic? Some people have found or suggested surprising ways

The pandemic and its bad consequences, which have bothered us for more than 12 months already and will continue to make life difficult for us for months – if not years – to come, has affected people differently.

While I hate the latest restrictions imposed on me by the Metro Manila Council for the second half of March 2021, I am spending more time to recognize the nice ideas people around me and people in the press and elsewhere are bringing up and are influencing my perspective how things should change – with happiness in mind and being convinced that the problems can be mastered. Of course – people of all walks of life have to work together.

Allow me to highlight some ideas of people you may know and from a number of people you and I don’t know. What they have in common? They inspire me…

Uma Araneta said ‘I’m 15 and I want to vote. I believe we should have a say in our future. Our future is being put in the hands of politicians most of us don’t even agree with.’

Vincent Pajenago wrote about ‘What being poor means’. He mentioned two interesting aspects that I feel are important: ‘If you are a born poor, no one really cares about you, and no one really knows you. You are just part of official statistics on poverty. However, I also recognize that I’m still more privileged than most. I get to eat thrice a day. I get to study in a university. I get to build connections with people. That’s not the case for most people, though. What would happen to them?’

Rex C. Drilon wrote ‘shared prosperity’ and said: ‘We all know what the ultimate solution to poverty is – jobs, jobs and more jobs. When people have jobs, they don’t go hungry. When people have jobs, they can afford to go to school and send their children to school. When people have jobs, they don’t despair – they can hope, they can dream.’

Dr. Carl E. Balita wrote about ‘Emotional Intelligence in the time of pandemic’ and said: ‘The EQ proponent Daniel Goleman defines emotional intelligence as the ability to sense, understand, and effectively apply the power of emotions as source of human energy, information, connection and influence’.

Edilberto C. de Jesus said in his column ‘Eradicating corruption?’ – ‘Human institutions, like the human body, are corruptible. Protecting them from corruption, like protecting the body from sickness, must be, as the pandemic is teaching us, a continuing struggle. The challenge is difficult enough and defies definite deadlines.’

Daphne S. Sagun raised the question ‘Are we too young, or old  enough?’, writing about what parents tell their kids. She concluded her article: ‘We are not against you. We are with you in desiring a better place for all of us to live in. We are trying to take charge of our future. All we ask is for you to respect us, like you expect us to respect you. If the youth aren’t allowed to think for themselves, how will they learn?’

Elon Musk addressed the issue ‘Are we born smart, or do we learn to be smart?’ and outlined two rules: ‘1 - Make sure you are building a tree of knowledge’, ensure to get the best grasp of the ‘trunk’ material before moving off into he minutiae of the branches and the leaves’. Rule 2: You can’t remember what you can’t connect’, start with solid roots and dense trunks; as you grow the knowledge upward, connect branches and leaves from other trees.’

Let me close with Amanda Gorman, the young American poet at US President Joe Biden’s inauguration, and take a few lines of her exciting poem ‘The Hill We Climb’. As Amanda said:

“When day comes, we step out of the shade,

aflame and unafraid,

the new dawn blooms as we free it.

For there is always light,

if only we’re brave enough to see it.

If only we’re brave enough to be it.”

As Iris Gonzales added: ‘Let us heed the beating of our hearts, march toward a brighter purpose and, along the way, let us light the path for others as well’.

Feedback is welcome; you can contact me at [email protected]