Back to the core
The novel coronavirus disease 2019 has changed the way we manage our lives for the past weeks. Blocking borders, closing intimate social distances with others. And as it spreads so rapidly, we don’t want to be part of the exponentially increasing figures worldwide. And so we want to be updated with recent statistics, from what locality, or if is it already in our midst. The fear is mounting. Admittedly, in a way, we are in a panic mode, even if we don’t like it, even if how much assurance by the authorities that everything is in control. And personally, even if just a simple sign of discomfort, like a normal headache, carelessly, I right away attribute it to the dreaded disease.
But in this trying time, I see positive lessons from it. For one, more than any other defining moments, even if we come from different political sides, persuasions, and ideologies, it is this time to act as one, setting aside our differences. After all it is not a question of who and where we belong to but the pure intention of helping others.
Second, the fact that we are just at home provides us the opportunity to have more time with our loved ones. Let’s accept that oftentimes we ignore their individual contributions to who we are now. Their daily presence is sometimes ignored and just taken for granted.
Third comes as a wake-up call. There are just human activities that are detrimental to nature. Staying at home means cutting our traveling activities and so decreasing the utilization of poisonous gases. This eventually allows nature to breathe, not only humans having time to heal but nature to recuperate as well. There will be signs that nature indeed has started to bloom as we see fishes moving in a body of water that is already considered not suitable for marine life. Birds have started to sing due to less disturbance from human activities. Italy's Venice canals have manifestation of swans and dolphins while China has blue skies after factories have been closed down for months.
And so there is indeed a time for everything. A time to sow, a time to harvest. A time to be happy and a time to weep as we celebrate life and mourn its end. A time to fall and a moment to rise above life’s challenges.
Although perceiving the pandemic as an interruption to usual flow of human undertakings is valid but it likewise presents a great opportunity to reflect the core in us --our origin and purpose. We need to go back to the center as we lean so much on one end, forgetting that there is the other disadvantaged, burdened side. Taking the center means knowing the very self, as well as of others. And in this trying time, we have our most vulnerable brothers and sisters, the daily wage earners, the unemployed, single parents, who need help in their own simple ways.
We have seen glimpses of helping hands in the previous weeks and days, from our benevolent healthcare professionals to numerous people who are now rising up, to help those generally powerless. They give motivation to us all. Indeed, solidarity is trust in real life. After we have conquered this pandemic, we will ascend once more, and in solidarity, we can defeat other crises we face.
Lastly to the victims, we hope that they will not be stigmatized by the community but rather a community that prays for their speedy recovery. We storm the heavens with our prayers.
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