World War III?

What is happening to the world? Is this World War III with no weapons needed? Being waged on the streets of every city and town, and not on a battle field? 

Is this the end of the world? Have we woken up to a brand new reality? What is this? We have all heard about the super virus prophecies. It was spoken about in hushed tones, that one day humanity will face an adversary swift, unseen, and deadly.

One little super virus has brought nations to their knees. Brought humanity to a halt. The economies have been destroyed in what seems to be overnight. Panic has hit many communities. People hoarding, self isolating, suspicious of their neighbors. Whole industries locked down for the foreseeable future, possibly forever. Lives interrupted, put on hold. Many unknowns. Too many questions and certainly not enough answers.

Last December we all heard little background chatter about a virus that started in China that sounded a little more dangerous then the flu. In a few weeks, it turned into a full blown epidemic within a certain region of China. The Chinese government took action, locked down the effected area and we all breathed a sigh of relief. Celebrated our holidays and forgot about a new virus called Corona. Thinking it has nothing to do with us. How wrong we would be?

Fast forward a few weeks and this virus has spread across borders and closer to home. We learned that people were losing their lives, or being put in induced comas to help their lungs heal. We were told the elderly had it the worst and people with underlying medical issues. We breathed another sigh of relief, and thought this has nothing to do with us. We continued on our merry way, celebrating birthdays and making future plans. Trips to be taken, and spring breaks to be relished. We imagined that give it a few weeks and this too shall pass, just like its sister SARS, that had come and gone. How wrong would we be?

February came along full of promise, for me it was a special month full of celebration and festivity, I had promised myself a whole month dedicated to a new decade of my life. How I started that month with optimism and anticipation? I had my loved ones around me and granted myself the luxury of fun and frivolity. February gave me all that I had hoped for and more. In the shadow of all that fun lay a growing fear of a dark cloud approaching. I let it slide and thought all is just fine with the world.  How wrong I would be?

March started with a bang! In days, the Coronavirus was multiplying at an exponential rate. The World Health Organization announced that the epidemic was now a pandemic. In other words, out of control, and on its way around the globe. A gift that keeps on giving. As I write this 178 countries have contracted the Coronavirus and counting. I say countries, as whole nations have felt the domino effect of this disease. 

Where I live, schools shut their doors for a month and now those rumors are surfacing that schools will remain closed till the new year in September, should we believe them this time? As time has gone by, new measures have been put in place. Some within hours, all public entertainment areas have closed shop, places of worship, all gyms, pools, beaches, bars, night clubs, most office workers are working remotely from home, airlines have cancelled routes, the airports are nearly fully nonfunctional, and the list goes on. We wake up every morning to stricter and stricter measures, we are basically in a large scale prison at the moment.

As I reflect on the obvious drawbacks of a mutant virus out to destroy the human race, I cannot but state what is glaring, the world as we know it has tipped on its axis. The world we knew a month ago is forever changed. This is a moment in all our personal histories that will be a marker of the "before' and "after" .

The earth has stopped, maybe not its physical rotation around the sun, but its emotional rotation as a safe existence for the human race. The collective panic that has ensued is deafening in its frenzy. The fear that has gripped even the coolest of us is palatable. As we are asked to self isolate, quarantine ourselves in our homes, social distance, sanitize, do not interact, remain vigilant, do not touch, be aware, stay separate, we wonder if we ever appreciated the warmth of a greeting as we should have. The freedom to go anywhere and touch anything.

As messages and pictures pour in of cities with empty streets and famous landmarks with not one tourist in site, we are well aware that we are sailing into a recession and possibly a depression. That history seems to be repeating itself, we are being faced with the same challenges as our ancestors did after World War I, war time brings with it hardships that have a ripple effect. Country after country is shutting its borders, shops, the livelihood of millions of people. The loss of income and jobs will be exuberant, we have yet to grasp the magnitude.

The families that have been separated by inaccessible borders is worrying and stress inducing. The lack of medical facilities to accommodate the ever increasing numbers in need of critical care is disheartening. The ever higher numbers of deceased is heartbreaking. The dread of catching the virus is overwhelming. The most vulnerable of us asked to remain indoors indefinitely is a breeding ground for insanity. 

The front line heroes in this war are the medical staff that are putting their lives in danger to save the frail and needy. They are fighting an enemy they do not have a full knowledge of, with sketchy statistics and even sketchier facts. They are willing to fight till the end as we have heard of doctors and nurses succumbing to the disease themselves. I salute and thank each and everyone of these heroes, they make me believe in the goodness of man.

As we all bow our heads in distress to what is happening to our world, we should take this time to reflect on the gift we have been given. In my culture there is a saying that loosely translated means "do not hate an evil for it may be good for you".

What we have been given, is more time with our families to just be, more time to analyse the reason this pandemic may have been a necessary seismic shock to humanity to alter its ways, more understanding of the poor and needy living within hypothetical prisons not of their own making, a calibration of our responsibility towards planet earth and how to treat it better, a wake up call to love more, to be kind, to show humility, to feel gratitude, to need less, to give more, to go back to basics, to keep our children near, to take care of our elderly, to be less greedy, to show respect for all that we have, to plea for forgiveness for the human race that has lost its way.


Here is what I have learned: I will do my part to remain home and contain this pandemic, but that is not the only thing I will do. I will remind myself when this is all over, of the lessons learned and move forward in life with all the gifts I have been proffered by the Coronvirus. Will you?