According to Paul PT Wong, “a person’s true character is often revealed in times of crisis or temptation. Make sure that you have what it takes to be your best in such times.”
The on-going crisis continues to unmask our disposition of mental and moral qualities and strength. We are witnessing this at all levels. From an individual to a global scale.
This once in a generation event has done things that our generation had never even comprehended, even distantly possible until a few weeks ago. And this looks like only the beginning.
While the virus continues to infect the lungs of our kind, killing in hundreds of thousands within the span of a few months, the impact of this pandemic has reset our lives. Here is my take on what’s going on at the individual, state and global levels.
Semantics Matters
New terminologies such as lockdown and quarantine have suddenly become buzz words. Phrases such as “flattening the curve” and "contact tracing" that we hardly heard before now means so much more.
These now have become topics of daily household conversation. As we continue to clog our network of information superhighway, those may be the most googled words and phrases.
One may as well spend the rest of his/her life, if they wish, pondering on the meaning of such buzzwords and phrases in the context of this pandemic. By now we not only know the meaning of those words and phrases, we are living them.
The Individual
We are all locked in our cells. Whether it be state-imposed lockdown or voluntary fear-generated reaction. Let’s face it - this life in self-isolation has had an impact on all of us.
We are all now self-proclaimed scientists, researchers, virologists, epidemiologists, mathematicians, analysts, comms experts… The list goes on.
Many of us have become philosophical, suddenly searching for the meaning of life. Some of us have completely retracted inside our shells, shutting down every stimulus life has to offer. Like a black hole sucking in even the light.
Others are doing stuff they have never done before. These characters are the curious type. This bunch can’t help but continuously keep doing things. As if they have to do something. Anything. It is this bunch that is of my particular interest. I may have an unconscious bias here, as it seems my behaviour aligns with this bunch. I would not know why others do the things they do. For me, my actions are a way to release whatever my body and mind is going through right now.
The virus has brought our normal life to a grinding halt. One of the universal effects is that what's going on has hit our conscience. This has enabled us to see things that money can’t buy. In the world driven by commerce and efficiency, this important intangible part of life was being obscured. Knowingly or unknowingly we ignored them. We did not have time for those unproductive things. They were not our priority.
Our self-isolated life has finally given us enough time to realise what we were failing to notice while perpetually chasing to fit in to be normal. While being busy grinding the treadmill of life, we continued to work as a slave to our ambitions. To earn a living. To pay the mortgage. To save for the future. To provide for the family. To impress others. To progress in life. To spend money on our plastic cards. Somewhat true to how Will Smith put it - spending money that we never had, on things we never needed, to impress people who didn’t give a toss about us.
It seems like our primitive impulse of flight or fight has been unleashed. Regardless of our response or reaction, this virus has enabled us to dig deep to reveal a character that we ourselves were oblivious that it even existed. Whether we notice this or not, that is up to us.
For me personally, while we live on different continents, this situation has encouraged me to keep in touch with family members more often than I used to do. I feel like bonding with my siblings and parents is being redefined. In a positive way. I have come to appreciate the role of my relatives and my relationships to enrich my life. Relationships and friendship are being tested, redefined and strengthened. I am getting to see the geniuses in many of them. The hidden gems are shining, so as to say.
The fact that is hitting us the hardest is that, yes money is an important part of life, but we can’t eat money. It is only a means, not the end. At the end of the day, it is the people and relationships that matters. He aha te mea nui o te ao. He tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata (what is the most important thing in the world? It is people, it is people, it is people).
More coming soon on the topic of the state and the world ...
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