The Misery of COVID-19

Covid-19, a virus that strangely emerged, changed the narrative and has set the world and its people higgledy-piggledy. The very first time the virus was heard about, many thought it was just another propaganda intended to amuse and frighten people. While the world reacted carelessly, the then President of the “great” nation (America), President Trump, labelled  the virus as a Chinese Virus, ironically branding the virus as only for China. 

The virus moved smartly as the chimpanzee maneuvers its path around the globe and dreadfully decayed people as crocodiles do. I can say, as I’m sure many others can, that I never imagined the entire world going under total lockdown. Air and land travel was placed under a halt and human noses and mouths shielded as though we were all going for a “cleaning up campaign.” On top of that, we were bedded into quarantine, thus leaving us as social captives. Because of social distancing conventions and statewide lockdowns, the Covid-19 pandemic has inevitably resulted in an increase in the usage of virtual technologies.

People, schools, and organizations throughout the world have had to adjust to changing work and lifestyles. In the midst of the changes,  the situation has redesigned the educational system almost entirely, taking learning from the classroom to online. This has left students with freedom in learning and networking with lecturers almost anywhere they want. I have always known that education can be achieved through computers, laptops, tablets, and mobile phones with internet access in synchronous and asynchronous environments, but what is of question is, are we still getting a quality of education that can be noted as impactful considering the level of freedom we have today? 

From what we know, our world and ecosystem are delicate. But far from our thoughts was the idea that a pandemic could weaken us all this much. It weakened our physical connections, and left us to the sympathy of technology. It limited our educational journeys to either synchronous or asynchronous digital modes. It dragged countries’ economies to near collapse.  It paused air travel and left airports as graveyards, left land trek to particular people -like health workers- and commercial vehicles were left to wonder how to earn means. All in all, it held people as captives.

To the living, these miseries are blessings while the millions of dead are codified as casualties of the misery. Gratitude goes to WHO and different NGOs for securing vaccines to aid us in curtailing the nightmare, even though we have already experienced many loved ones taking the unwanted title of “CASUALTIES OF COVID-19.” Still, our social and educational journeys remain at the mercy of technology as we fear the resurgence of a virus that is yet to be eradicated. Though economically drained, the rich  countries have moved to secure more vaccines for their people while poor nations are at the mercy of donations – worrying over how sufficient they are. I feel full-hearted with the way the world has taken COVID-19 to be as common an enemy as Climate Change.  Majority are particular and most nations are taking caution. The Governments are encouraging citizens to follow the WHO-advised health protocols.

Fellow mankind, let’s see how deadly and unapologetic this virus is, contemplate how uncommon this era is, and socially distance ourselves, wear masks, and continuously sanitize our hands. Indeed, our world is fragile, but we have a chance to make it work for us. In these times, little obedience to health protocols is enough to save ourselves and others. Remember, COVID-19 is a misery, but with our cooperation we can overcome it and gain a new semblance of normal. 

Authored by Abu Kamara
Featured Picture by Unsplash