Every morning, I make it a point to go outside, sit by the front door, and have me some sun. To be sitting near the orchids and the flowers, and sharing with them the early morn’s sunbeams may sound like a mushy and romantic thingy, but it is not. Experts say being cooped up for so long indoors, as in a quarantine, can have a profound effect on one’s mental health, so I am not going to wait for that to happen, no way. Besides, the spot where I frequently sit every morning (except when it rains) has proven to be perfect for contemplating on what topics to write about. My peyote spot. Then it hit me.
Directly above, a black bird on the high tension wire had just dropped a fruit seed right near where I sat, and bounced off my left leg. Only then did I notice that, with almost everyone required to be indoors, and with the roads in the subdivision empty of passing vehicles, birds of all varieties have returned to Uraya mountain, occupying and resting on wires and atop street posts. That might also explain why, in the past month, unknown varieties of flowers have started to grow in some of our flower plot and pots.
One might have even seen photos online of famous spots around the world that have been taken over by fauna because of the scarcity of human activity. Yey to all the animals of the world, covid has a silver lining for them and mother earth after all.
Meanwhile as a stark contrast, in many countries and in prominent states in the US, a growing call to stop the quarantine and opening up the economy has slowly begun to gather steam. Is this a case of man fighting back against the animals taking over? Or is it merely man moving ever forward to claim that in terms of stupidity, no one can come close to his top billing?
In the US, the right to decide for oneself, alluding to the first amendment of their constitution, and the freedom of speech, is the most used reference by a steadily growing number of impatient demonstrators. Meanwhile in some countries, factors like the avoidance of economic collapse and the opportunity to be up and running while the rest of the world is still on lockdown, are the dubious reasons for urging their governments to jumpstart their derailed economies. Dubious because these administrations have not yet even gone through the entire length of arresting the virus, much less putting in place the much-needed mechanisms that could strengthen their health systems against massive contamination.
One economist has stated that the growing option to reopen the economy by several American states under a despotic leader, and countries like Brazil and possibly the UK, lacks value and sense of humanity because it sets aside the likelihood of lives that will surely be lost once the doors are once again swung open for trade and commerce to resume.
Simply put another way, who among us is willing to earn more money if it means putting our parents and elders in dangerous waters? As a consequence of all these, are they the sacrificial lambs, and dispensable elements for the good of the whole, or in actuality, for the one percent who really rule this animal planet?
