The outbreak of the COVID-19 virus surfaced in the Wuhan province of China in December 2019. Soon in the following two months, the terrorizing virus spread extensively. The spread was uncontrollable and soon it was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization WHO. Tens of thousands of people across the globe are dying, the European countries are getting hit the most, the death tolls are rising exponentially and do not seem to stop anyway. Scientists across the world are racing to invent the vaccines for COVID-19 at the earliest; yet, no vaccines can be expected to arrive before 12-16 months as experts claim.
As of April 19, 2020, the total death toll across the world has crossed 161,000- the U.S. alone has lost its 39,000 citizens. The majority of countries are undergoing lockdown, and subsequently, human activities are affected. The economy of the world is hit miserably. Humans are locked in their houses- like the animals kept in the zoo. To win over the deadly virus, the only effective way found was to isolate oneself. While the central government role was prominent in formulating the rules and regulations for this, it was up to the individuals to abide by. An individual’s carelessness would not spare others around to contract the virus. This was conspicuously indicating nothing else but the importance of unity among humans. Let’s contemplate, isn’t the COVID-19 actually teaching people to get united? Live in harmony and pay respect to each other?
Since March 24, Nepalese people are facing lockdown, and spending time at home has been arduous to many of us. A month of lockdown has been so unbearable. However, we are still anticipating this would help slash the pandemic and finally we will be able to see the light on the other side of the tunnel. We have been constantly praying for the end of this deadly pandemic. This doesn’t stop us from thinking – is this going to end human mankind? Then we go back to the root of the cause that’s constantly posing threat to human mankind. We went back to the origin of the virus, found the particular human action which provoked the outbreak. Didn’t we?
When we suffered, we suffered hard; many of us lost our beloved ones. We saw people crying to death, dead bodies not getting space in the graveyard, and heard grieving stories of many. Nevertheless, we didn’t see the sufferings of those creatures that were tortured and served to us; we didn’t hear them screaming when they were boiled in hot water. Just like us, they also had their families waiting. But we didn’t see because we were blinded by our self-interest. While pursuing our interest, we forgot we were taking the lives of innocent ones, to merely please our taste buds.
They say karma comes back to you. So might not it be the accumulation of our negative karma finding the way back to us? Hurting us badly with the same magnitude we have been treating them since the time unknown? If we listen closely, we can hear them cursing us to go through the same dreadful path which they were made to. For centuries, we have been keeping them in captivation and now, we, having to stay in lockdown, confining ourselves to our premises, aren’t they interlinked?
Maybe it’s time for all of us to introspect. Dive deep into the thoughts and understand the message it is trying to flash- the underlying lesson which humans need to embrace. Perhaps, we are exploiting, shattering, and humiliating nature in an unacceptable extent in the pretext of protecting mankind. Moreover, the pandemic is reminding us that we are going off track and there is an urgent need to curb it, do something about it- change our mindset at least. Some other worlds also exist within the world we claim ours. Thus, the brotherhood, the bonding has to be shared with other beings in the mother earth as well. Besides, while we are observing the deaths closely, we are often hinted that everything in this world is impermanent; therefore, there is no logic behind holding this hatred, greed, resentment, as we all are onboard the same plane and it will have to land when the flight time gets over. We have seen it’s only the support to each other that is going to hold us when the crisis strikes. There seems to be a deeper logic that we need to comprehend and that can be nothing else than love and compassion. Undoubtedly, the pandemic is teaching us to treat every sentient being with love and deeper compassion, for compassion is the only truth.
-Bikash GhisingCivil Engineer, Himalayan Power Partner