What’s in the future?

A few months ago, the numbers of daily cases of COVID-19 infections were steadily going down that a lot of people were expectedly anticipating the return to the “old normal,” prior to the pandemic’s appearance on this planet in the end of 2019. Then the Delta variant came out and country after country rebounded to the situation early in 2020 and got into worse situations since the start of this pandemic. It actually had a worse effect on people who were already looking forward to the return of the old days.

While the early parts were characterized by collective hope and common aspirations, what has come lately were troubles of failures and blaming. There is a growing realization of some after-effects on our mental health as a result of sustained lockdowns and suppressed social activity, now limited mostly online. The return to pre-COVID days is understandable, it is only now that we realized we had the time of our lives, with fast technological advancement that made our lives easy and enjoyable. That’s why we yearned for the old days – we missed the social gatherings, the parties, travel, and holidays, all the things that made this life “fun.” And affordable at that.

Maybe we need to stop and rethink if it is really a good idea to go back to where we exactly were before. In one of my previous articles, I have written about the advantages this pandemic has wrought and one of those is bringing the family together. Well, you’re in a lockdown, where else will you be, but with your family. Sure, there are new frictions in this “new normal” as some would attest, but the advantages far outweigh the wrinkles. Then, there are savings – I don’t know about you but getting things may have made some costs higher (mostly for delivery), but expenses are less because you only buy what you really need. Well, a few do still binge shop in online stores, but many don’t.

What if this will not end? We thought it was about to, but the Delta variant came. And others are still coming, the epidemiologists say, especially that there are many who reject vaccination. When the number of the vaccinated population fails to reach herd immunity, transmissions and infections will continue and so with it the emergence of new variants. And there are still many who persist to reject being vaccinated, making humanity still a breeding ground for new COVID-19 variants. We can only hope these won’t be the worst ones.

Because of this, it is better to just expect that COVID-19 will not disappear and we have to live with it, face masks, social distancing, and all. Which is fine, really, if you ask me, since we will become a better and careful world. And a God-fearing one, I pray. It is in our darkest hours that man tends to seek God. I’ve seen a lot of that these days. At the end of the day. We have to realize that man can’t just dictate his own destiny. COVID-19 or no COVID-19, the world is under God’s control, and we should live it the way God wants us to.