A self-congratulatory pat in the back for all who have reached this far
without any major setbacks in this COVID-19 Jumanji. After already more
than a month of restless stay-at-home, and self-adjustable work-from-
homes (yep, they have earned their rights to be nouns now), one would
have already reached boss level had this been a surreal game played
online… Instead of what we have, this life and death situation that
continuously plays out with nary a pause.
However, it is also at this particular time when it would already be safe to
assume that, despite the Coronavirus’ immense damage to the world order,
it has brought about a rethinking of sorts on our part.
Surely, while it had stopped everyone in our tracks, and brought about a
worldwide pause, it had definitely force-fed us with that necessary
contemplation and review of everything that we have done, mis-done,
where we are at the moment, and eventually all that we have become,
either as individuals, as a country or as humanity as a whole.
Alas, it is high time to take away all those labels that distinguish us from
each other, be it bloodline, class, status, wealth, profession, race or color.
As we strip away these layers one at a time, in the end, it will only be the
individual self that remains.
Next, once we have gotten rid of all those natural, knee-jerk reactions and
small-time activities that we have all indulged in just to kill quarantine time, we will by then have arrived at the very juncture where each one become ultimately bound to answer the question, “quo vadis, or where do we go from here?”
All that happened may not have been of our own choosing, yet it had
forced each of us to slow down, reflect and then perhaps re-discover
whatever priorities we might have missed. To quote an article by Margie
Warrell in Nementhe, she said, “Sure, your plans may have unraveled and events may have been canceled. But your friendships have not been
canceled. Your family has not been canceled.”
The pandemic, despite its significant impact, has not left us empty handed
after all; so that with these two, at this particular crossroads, we can at
least start again. A reboot is definitely in order, and each of us are given an
opportunity to rearrange according to what is truly important, and disregard whatever baggage we have accumulated during the years pre-COVID-19.
In spite all the uncertainties of these troubling times, let us just focus on the
lessons and regard them as gifts, while we forge ahead.
