Midpoint, it is the month of June, the centre of the year.
One would be forgiven, if one ripped up one’s calendar to shreds in disbelief because this first half of 2020 has felt like 2 whole years mashed up and forcibly stuffed to fit unfittingly into 6 months.
What a rollercoaster it has been and truth be told, it has not been fun, not in the least bit.
The world brought to an abrupt halt, by the novel COVID-19, forcing the closure of schools, factories, religious gathering and multiple cancelation of sporting events worldwide.
Borders have been shut, international travels with human traffic banned.
Jobs have been lost with companies laying off workers, economies of nations being brought to their knees, leaving the brightest political and economic minds scampering and scratching their collective heads for ways to salvage and resuscitate the crippling economies in the present and future when the vaccine has been found to wipe out this treacherous corona virus. Hopefully this is sooner rather than later.
Our heroic frontline workers have braved this gory time going to work, mostly under staffed and overwhelmed, doing their utmost best to save lives even at their own peril at times.
This selfless show of love together with some innate feeling gives me faith that we will pull through this battle better, stronger and refined. In fact it is three qualities we as has humans possess that fuels this confidence of mine. They are adaptability, hope and love.
Like H. G Wells writes in his book A short History of the world (1922), ‘Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature’s inexorable imperative.’ This assessment from Mr. Wells holds true, failure to adapt in any area of life always leads to a sorry end. Whether it is in business, sports or technology, those who adapt end up victors.
Currently we are witnessing that remote working is very much possible, not every meeting has to happen physically (virtual meetings must be utilized more) and that e-learning with dedicated effort can be an effective tool.
Admittedly, all things may not be perfect in the moment but it’s a start and going forward things will smoothen up.
Hope, the Bible, the good book of Christians, says, if deferred, makes the heart grow sick but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.
Good news is our hope is not deferred because all throughout history, at one point in time mankind has been plunged into one pandemic and another, in different centuries and every time man has come out victorious. Therefore if the past is any guidance to the present and future then we have hope that this will surely pass us by.
Now to love the greatest gift of all that we have.
With love comes adaption, love makes one selflessly forgo their comfort to see to the welfare of others. Love sees a brother struggle and steps in to offer a helping hand. Love sees a fellow human wrongfully brutalized and quickly runs to the defence. Love fights injustice and gives faith that the human race is not lost. Love sees the less fortunate in society and goes out of his/her way to lift up the head of another. Love breeds faith, love breeds hope!
We must look at the marginalized and less privileged in society and drag them along with us.
If ever there was a time to show love, now is the time. With most countries or cities in lockdown or coming out of lockdown and restrictions it would not be further from the truth that the less privileged in society are feeling the brunt of the harshness that our ‘new reality’ bestows on everyone.
Even as each one of us is dealing with a peculiar battle in this unpleasant time, like we have done in the past, we leave no man behind. We must look at the marginalised and less privileged in society and drag them along with us. In our very little way we must show a little kindness, be it monetary or in-kind. No help or contribution is small enough neither will it be great enough.
We owe it to the past, to posterity, to ourselves and most of all we owe it to our conscience to show love.
What is humanity without love!?
Jorcil is the Silent Schmoozer, go to his blog, https://jorcilogy.wordpress.com/, to find out what that means