“When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change. At such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened, or in saying that we are not yet ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back.”
Paulo Coelho
In the garb of covid-19, nature has set us a formidable challenge not only to face, but to overcome and learn from. Gauging the way we have conducted ourselves in the last couple of months, serious questions have arisen whether we are really up to defeating the scourge. There are varied apprehensions expressed with regard to our inability to understand the enormity of the challenge and live by a pragmatic strategy to overcome it without any proviso, without any exception.
There was a phase of uncertainty preceding the softening of the lockdown. Since then, we have seen people flouting the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) with relish. This is equally applicable to those on both sides of the counter: the ones who are selling the merchandise and those who are the buyers. When I questioned the vendors about not observing the basic requirements, I received nothing but shameless smiles. The worst part is that, even the customers present at a given premises, did not join me in forcing the shopkeepers to observe the minimum mandatory precautions like wearing the masks and gloves. And, by the way, they were all educated people, fully aware of the procedures to follow in these challenging times.
What must be strictly discouraged is the effort to construct polemics around the pandemic. This is no time to score petty political points. Going in divergent directions will only complicate matters and, in the end, no one party would be able to stamp its victory as there would be far too many dead to count. This is a time to come together with a singular purpose of defeating the scourge: with unity, discipline and determinationLeaving behind a shining trail, or the dread of counting the dead
In the absence of the local government, the entire responsibility for ensuring observance of the SOPs rests with the district administration. They are nowhere to be seen. Even when one was able to register a complaint, even pointing out a place where SOPs were not being observed, there was virtually no response. It is as if they had forfeited their responsibility by leaving people at the mercy of their own preferences.
The virus is deadly, but the combined irresponsible and unworthy attitude of the people and the administration has only made it deadlier. People seem not to care and the district authorities refuse to let a deadly situation puncture their traditional arrogance. But, on social media, they never tire of boasting endlessly how efficiently they are extending help to fight the pestilence. It is a strange country where people are celebrated for committing murder.
Living through the crisis, one sees little indication of any change in the fatalistic attitude that grips all echelons of society. The dominant narrative which is being promoted is that we cannot fight this pandemic. So, we should submit before it and raise our hands in prayer that it may pass quickly. Nothing could be more illogical and defeatist than this abject surrender.
Beyond the pandemic, if we ever get there, one would have little recollection of the pain and suffering that hundreds of thousands of families endured who lost their dear ones to the scourge. The big question being debated concerns the prospect whether we are going to be any different once we have passed the crisis, or will we persist in our errant behaviour? Some say there would be no alternative to bringing about a fundamental change in our conduct, but there are others who claim that a change is not forthcoming and people would continue to indulge their penchant as they have always done.
There is another dimension to the crisis. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that we may have to get used to living with Corona as it is likely to become endemic. In that event, how could we persist with our self-destructive behaviour which has wrecked our environment and the habitat around us?
It may be worthwhile to go over the past pandemics and see whether those had cultivated any long-term change in human behaviour. Numerous plagues, yellow fever epidemics, polio epidemics, multiple flu epidemics, Ebola, and such other afflictions have impacted the world through centuries. The fear, by and large, persisted only during the currency of the epidemics, not after they had passed. Such has been the state of human nature. What makes us think that it may be any different this time around?
One reason which may spur people to think is that this pandemic is contagious. It spreads by human contact with lethal consequences. If one were to live with it, as has been warned by the WHO, it may ultimately trigger some change in human behaviour. But, the chances are that, with time, they will again lapse into a fatalistic domain, leaving much to the inevitability of things happening in certain ways which would be construed as beyond human control.
There are effects of a strict lockdown strategy which generate unbearable consequences. A lockdown over a prolonged period of time, which may be an ideal solution to tide over the crisis, will inevitably lead to isolation, poverty, hunger and death, thus making it untenable. This is exactly what has been happening in the world where hundreds of thousands of people have been marching on the roads demanding the lifting of the lockdown. Many governments have already ceded to the demand.
The strategy that appears to have worked the best is the smart lockdown, allowing people enough space to carry on with their lives under strict observance of the SOPs. Those countries where people have shown conscionable sensitivity to the demands of the situation have fared better than others. Pakistan is not such a country. People here have continued to indulge their natural penchant, kicking the SOPs all over the place. The lack of interest and the wherewithal of the administration have made things worse and everyone who steps out, even with his full security gear, runs the risk of catching the contagion simply because others are not taking the necessary precautions.
This is a difficult situation and the government’s options are limited. It has to try and create a balance between the need to live a normal life and the necessity of doing so by observing certain protocols. In the event this does not happen, which unfortunately has been the case in the past weeks, there is little that the government can do except to go for a strict lockdown again, more specifically in areas which have either reported extensive infections, or which are found contravening the basic essential protocols.
However, what must be strictly discouraged is the effort to construct polemics around the pandemic. This is no time to score petty political points. Going in divergent directions will only complicate matters and, in the end, no one party would be able to stamp its victory as there would be far too many dead to count. This is a time to come together with a singular purpose of defeating the scourge: with unity, discipline and determination.
It is in times of such crises that the character of a nation stands forth. Unfortunately, through these initial phases of the pandemic, we have exhibited a palpable lack of discipline and utter insensitivity to the safety of our fellow citizens, thus rendering ourselves undeserving of any special consideration. If, eventually, the government is not left with an option other than a strict lockdown, people will have no one to blame except themselves.
