First, it was an outbreak in what was like a small Wuhan in China, and the world even China herself looked down on it. We all thought it will start and end with them. For some, they probably would have thought “that serves China right. They are being punished for making inferior products”. Some countries may have reasoned that it was a good development so long it slows the Chinese Economy so they cannot outgrow Europe and America.
We cannot also forget the conspiracy theory about the virus that seems to still hold sway till today. That is a topic for another discussion.
America probably may have thought they are the world power and it cannot affect them. Europe possibly may have banked on their technological prowess. Briton must have thought ‘we are very organized; we will knock it out of town. You can probably add your own thought of ‘we would be exempted for this or that theory. The fact is that we believed it was too far away and can be an isolated case. How wrong we were?
When the world would have rallied around China, and China would have gathered around the Wuhan province to stop the pandemic, knowing that regardless of the distance of the eyes from the leg, the pains in it sends signals to the brain in the skull which also houses the eyes.
COVID came and exposed how selfish the world has been from inception. What we called unity was never defined in practice. The existence of its meaning had always been in the dictionary never in acts. A situation where we first think of how we can benefit from other persons’ woe is clear evidence that what we preach as peace is mere propaganda. Sadly while we are all suffering the consequences a few are benefiting from the situation while some folks would rather we all face it globally than allow the less vulnerable countries to take advantage and develop.
How else can one describe the manner in which the virus was sold to African countries and their gullible leaders bought into it? Granted the virus exists and it is quite dangerous, but why did the science that taught us habitats suddenly turned to tell us that all species of virus can survive in all climates? Before you stage arguments, this is not meant to stir up debate but to awaken our sense of thought.
The truth is, if you glory today for a robbery incident that skipped your house and thinks it was share providence, you may be the sole target for a deadly experience. Neglect of the child in the street who cannot afford education is simply breeding the nuisance that your children will have to leave with. You don’t want to face the wrath of a hopeless fellow especially when they see smiling while they suffered pain and penury.
With global economic hardship spreading, no thanks to the COVID situation, with families of the displaced person left to the cry of hopelessness, we may all be sitting on a disaster waiting to happen, if we think we can only try to cater for ourselves with little or no concern for those who cannot.
People must rise for people, nations must rise for nations. The journey of unity and progress has never been so narrow. The road to peace is not lonely. No society can have peace if the comfortable careless less about the vulnerable. The events which we consider negligible because they are happening to the poor and vulnerable have the capacity of spreading to affect our collective peace and progress. Would we not spend a penny to help others and buy peace than spend our pounds to calm crisis because we failed to help our neighbour when it mattered most?
This is why at Frugal we believe so much in the social ideal principles of staying committed to helping the vulnerable to find meaning to their lives as a way to eliminate the grievances that can arise from the feeling of neglect which is the cause of major societal unrest.
It therefore important to stress that out deduction from the COVID situation is that we must all learn to rally around anyone who is affected by any situation as a way of preventing the majority from experiencing it. A global pandemic can be prevented if the globe can attack it holistically at the remote point when it springs regardless of where and who is affected.
Written by O. Joshua Chuks, Editor and media Fundraiser at Frugal Empowerment Foundation, email: crystaleditor@gmail.com.