Slivers of light in absolute darkness

Slivers of light in absolute darkness

With the pandemic raging worldwide and the entire world stooping to the diktats of a microbe, harshly imposed on a beaten mankind, it may seem totally out of place to even consider positives to have come out of it. Every human mind is filled with fear and even the normally cool politician, who are fazed by nothing at all, seems shaken. Yet, when we look at it without wearing the shades of fear, there are a few positives that seem to have come out of it. Will we see them and accept them and change accordingly or once the fear is over do we slip back to our old ways?

On the socio-economic front this was a time of simplistic innovations, innovation that were not meant at taking your breath away and arresting your senses, but aimed at getting your things done. The world suddenly realized that work done at home, was work too and you did not have waste time driving to the congregation called office – not with the myriad remote devises we have created. We also understood that education is not the complicated mess it is made out to be but the simple process of understanding facts and applying it into life and work. Our children now have a thousand new, simple and usable tools to learn and be examined. We now also realized that the one wash a day was hardly enough to keep your body clean, definitely not your interiors. A lot of the super priced, extravaganzas suddenly became affordable, then unwanted to those who could not even dream of them. True blue chip companies and the make believes were suddenly exposed giving the investor a clear vision on where to put his money in. All of a sudden it was fashionable not to clear the backyard of all the trees to dig up the pool and the value of usable clean fresh water was no longer underestimated.

On the personal and moral side there are quite a few things that have come out into the clear. The first thing is the fact that money, regardless of the quantity you possessed was of absolutely no use. All of a sudden, we need people to help us. We have learned that the food from the high quality restaurant was less tasty than the food cooked at home and infinity less safer. We have learned that the bombastic speeches of the so called centres of power are but hollow words, spoken from the mouth but not from the heart. We realized belatedly, that the time best spent is the time spent with your family and friends. Your work and business has suddenly become less important than the time you play with your kids and listened to the little problems of you wife. You realized that a single breathe of fresh air can be a premium commodity if you are not careful enough to keep the atmosphere clean. All of a sudden you realized that walking and running was definitely more fun than burning gallons of petrol in your luxury sedan. And most importantly, you understood that there are time when the only power you could rely on was not the Government, police or administration but the light that dwells in your heart.

No, the pandemic is definitely not a welcome visitor to our town. He is and will always be unwelcome to the precinct. Yet even the worst of our enemies can teach us lesson, valuable lessons. They teach us the depth of destruction and the price we pay when we choose to indulge, rather than use wisdom. They teach us that when we stay isolated and decorate ourselves on high perches, they can always push you down. Their success tells you that, the success you celebrated will be someone else’s but the love you cultivate will always be yours. Not that all have taken the cue and are toeing the right path. Many still sit salivating, looking at the worthless hoarded treasures in their lockers. A great many strut about, albeit with masks hiding half their faces and a many more still extol their superiority over others. It is the curse of history that there will always be people who do not see or choose to read the writing on the wall. Yet, it is a relief that those with true common sense, who have truly realized and have stepped forward.

And to close the narrative….Do bear in mind that if we make it alive this time, we better learn. The next time won’t be quite so benign. You may not get any more chances.