“A great disaster is a symbol to us to remember all the big things of life and forget the small things, of which we have thought too much.” Jawaharlal Nehru
At this time, the C-word is everywhere: dominating all headlines, leading television newscasts, in conversations both intra-personal or digital so the corona virus or the Covid-19 naturally makes up my motivational piece this week. As much as I avoid negative topics, I am forced to face the current one which is inflicting so much fear, panic and hysteria globally.
As I write, the current world-wide statistics are: there are 168958 recorded cases and 6492 deaths but looking on the bright side, 76585 people have recovered and with more constraints put in place, we hope that that will help to “flatten the curve”.
The good ol’ fellow, Winston Churchill, reminds us that in challenging times we need to look outside the proverbial compass for solutions when he said in the aftermath of the Second World War: “Never let a good crisis go to waste”. The reality of the situation is that whilst we feared another World War to bring us to our knees, we are facing head-on the devastation of “microbes instant of missiles” as Bill Gates prophesied in 2015.
Inasmuch the landscape has been clouded by this novel corona virus, there are a lot of good things to come out of it too. Around the world, the balconies of Assisi and Sicily are filled with song and dance as the Italians cope with their country’s lockdown, for the first time the once polluted air of Wuhan in China has cleared up to reveal blue skies, South Africa has latched on to another topic of complaint besides “load shedding” and closer to home in Australia toilet paper has assumed a new level of importance in the form of memes and a timely distraction from the recent droughts, floods and bushfires that have saturated the psyche of our country.
Nationally, the government’s call for clampdowns on air travel, banning of large scale public gatherings, cancellations of concerts and sports fixtures and minimising visits to public places, there is an opportunity to reconnect to family. Rather than looking at the downside of “social distancing”, embrace the precious time to interact with family. For far too long, the hustle and bustle of work and school life have hardly left us with any time to converse, to learn more about each other or to spend time harmoniously creating treasured moments through games, hobbies, crafts or cooking. Maybe there will be such an overload of time that we may indeed get tired of our devices and spend more time with family like in the good old days when life was so simple. Most importantly, there is nothing like a nasty virus to reinforce practices of good hygiene in the home.
Within our community the so-called enemy virus has set in motion changes that we hope will continue long after this dreaded disease has died down. Concerned citizens in Facebook groups are offering help to the elderly to assist them with their shopping, generous people are sharing their consumables even though they don’t have too many rolls, bottles or tubes themselves, people in the know like health professionals, technology experts and education professionals are putting out important information for families to cope with this new plague and religious organisations like temples, churches and mosques are stretching out their hands to help those that are most vulnerable to the virus. The most wonderful thing though is getting to know our neighbours in a more open and sincere way when hitherto we just nodded or waved in greeting.
In our industrialised society, factories are closing down and decreasing the rate of carbon emissions, the roads are getting quieter and the air cleaner with travel kept to a bare minimum, new practices are being implemented at workplaces where the idea of working from home is proving to be more convenient, restaurants and takeaways may be losing business but the joys of good, wholesome home cooking has been resurrected, the economy is slowing down and will inevitably push some businesses to bankruptcy but with this a whole new window of opportunity is opened up with enterprising entrepreneurship and creative cottage industries.
As individuals, this uninvited disruption to our daily lives has been so good to stop, listen and take time to self-reflect. It allows us to focus on the moment instead of racing ahead and paying attention to regular scheduling, work goals, must-meet deadlines and burning ambitions. By no means am I trivialising future aspirations but sometimes we seem to be so focussed with our eye on the summit that we fail to enjoy the joys the mountain roads avail us like the breath-taking vistas, the beautiful wild flowers or the clean, fresh mountain air.
As unwelcome as the virus is, it reminds one that even in death, there can be the rebirth of love: to love your family by starting new conversations that will improve connections, respect and gratitude to your parents, long lost or ignored relatives and siblings who are often taken for granted, to love your community by offering help and much-needed support, to love your friends by looking out for them and using the time to nurture authentic relationships, to acknowledge the mighty presence of god and the enormous power of nature but above all to love yourself.
Take time to open the windows of your soul to pamper, preen and pimp yourself in mind, body and soul so you emerge from this whole debilitating catastrophe with renewed vigour and vitality.
Didn’t German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche eloquently stated: “That which does not kill us, makes us stronger”? I know full well that Kelly Clarkson’s lyric was inspired when her boyfriend at the time ditched her for another girl but with the new terminology like “social distancing”, “self isolation” and “flattening the curve”, this song could very well be the theme song for the corona virus so let’s end this post on a happy note and sing along if you know the tune:
You think you got the best of me
Think you had the last laugh
Bet you think that everything good is gone
Think you left me broken down
Think that I'd come running back
Baby you don't know me,
'cause you're dead wrong
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger
Stand a little taller
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone
What doesn't kill you makes a fighter
Footsteps even lighter
Doesn't mean I'm over 'cause you're gone
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stronger
Just me, myself and I
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger
Stand a little taller
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone
So while our guest, the corona virus, is here, no handshakes, high fives or fist pumps, do it in the age-old tradition of the Indians: bringing the open palms together and saying Namasthe (meaning “I bow to you”).
Namasthe, Folks!
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