The Corona pandemic: catastrophe, retribution or one of life’s marvels?

As I sit down to pen this blog, it is March 28, 2020. It’s been 3 days since my city and country went into complete lockdown. Other countries and states since have followed suit – with UK announcing lockdown yesterday, as have a few states in USA. As the count of victims increase worldwide, people are largely in a state of anxiety and panic. I can only imagine that this is how people felt during the world wars – the uncertainty, the bloodshed and the indubitable decline of the economy.

This could be considered a war of sorts I suppose – not because I support the biological warfare conspiracy theories that are making rounds in social media channels, but because people are united against a common enemy – the COVID – 19. Without saying a word, our unpredictable, invisible ‘enemy’ has us losing sleep and hiding away at home. While I admit I’m writing this after washing my hands – perhaps for the 4th time since the morning, I must say my perspective on the whole Corona virus calamity has shifted from plain ‘bleakness and doom’ to amusement, awe, and hope.

In case you’re wondering, no the forced quarantine hasn’t made me lose my mind – I was mad to begin with – but let’s be honest who really feels like they’re in their right mind now? We’re like the extras in a Hollywood apocalyptic movie story – we’re in the middle of all the chaos and impending darkness, with absolutely no control over anything. Despite the odds thrown at me by the news media and social media posts all through the day, I have just enough insanity in me to believe that this story could actually end well.

Speaking of control, its a funny thing if you think about it. Everyone loves it so much they want to exercise control over anything – yet at the same time we hate being controlled ourselves. That’s why we fight wars right? War on territory, war on terrorism, war on drugs, war on the environment – we want to be able to decide the course of action and the outcome. We want to command every aspect of our life. Well boo-hoo.

All it took was a visit from an invisible, weightless being to throw a wrench into the works. We’re hiding at home, skipping school and work, and most businesses have been shut. We’re consumed by bad news, and different people having different reactions. Some bite their nails, as they follow every bit of news and analysis on what is going on and what to expect from the future. Others deal with it by keeping away from all news – a life of denial. I tried both those approaches before I realized that though seemingly contradictory, they both stemmed from the same core – fear. Fear of the unknown, and fear of the future.

Taking a step back and disconnecting helped me change my perspective on this madness that’s taking over the world. The pandemic is ravaging the world in silence. That much is obvious to us. We see that through the daily death count provided by our local news channels. It’s gruesome and upsetting. Theories on the origin of the virus often lead back to a wet market in Wuhan – caused by wildlife trade. So of course people blame the Chinese and their habits. We also blame the bat for allegedly giving pangolins the virus ( even though the pangolin remained unaffected), which in turn gave humans the virus. If only pangolins knew to keep their scales virus free – so humans can consume them for their flesh and medicinal value.

But I view this virus as a Dickensian ghost. If anything, this pandemic shows us where our past decisions as individuals, and as a community have brought us. As the world locks down, individuals are (or will be) forced to face themselves. That in itself is a scary proposition since most of us are too scared to face ourselves, preferring to hide behind our busy lives instead. When we’re alone with ourselves, the introspecting mind can’t stop judging, and re-evaluating life decisions and priorities. Do I spend enough time with my family, should I upskill, maybe I should have exercised more, once I get out of this I should look for a better job, I need to make time for myself…the list is endless.

As the COVID-19 seeps through our worlds, the failure of our bureaucracies and governments is undeniable. In many countries rich and poor alike, health care systems have failed to provide in-time support to patients and medical professionals. Ailing economies that haven’t received the necessary push in time, are expected to decline further. Societies are losing rationale and are getting xenophobic and violent. In a sense all of this maybe a good thing, because it resembles an abscess – its ugly and painful to endure but is the body’s way of fighting a much deeper infection. And without the gore, we would never have been aware – let alone had the opportunity to address the root of the problem.

In 2019, WHO declared that over 820 million people were still hungry globally, which resulted in the death of a child every 3 seconds. This of course is common among the less privileged population across the globe. If you think about it, the virus in all its wicked innocence, is a great equalizer – it doesn’t differentiate between the rich and poor, is impervious to religion, caste, gender or sexual identity. That’s probably one of the main reasons the world is paying attention.

We could choose to be humbled by this veiled force that makes us realize we are all fundamentally the same, or we could ramble on about who is the most culpable. We could as a community leverage our democratic right to elect better leaders and demand for meaningful change. We could as individuals develop our empathetic and sympathetic sides. We could also stand to listen more, and talk less. We could think, and we could be.

I can only hope that much like Dickens’ Scrooge, after the visit from his ghosts of Christmas, we as individuals and a community wake up from our slumber as improved versions of ourselves. It would give us the ‘control’ ( that we desire so much) to introduce a much needed happy ending to this excruciatingly long movie story – and ensure no sequels.

My four legged philosopher

Hiss.. HISS!!! That’s the cat at my place, telling me in all her crudeness that I’m infringing her territory – in my living room. She isn’t our pet, so we just refer to her as THE CAT. A stray, she showed up one day pregnant and ready to deliver.  I suspect that someone spread the word in the local cat community that our house doubles as a cat maternity ward. In a span of about two years, this was in fact the third time a ginger cat showed up at our house, pregnant and ready to deliver.

Human or feline, it’s seems safer to never mess with a pregnant lady. And so we played host to three births at our house. The first two times the cat had one kitten and left with her child after a few weeks. So this time around, we hoped for the same deal. Instead we got 3 kittens and a cat that wouldn’t leave. As with all children, kittens have a way of making you go against your best judgement.  Besides it seemed cruel to throw out 3 unprepared kittens into the big bad world. And so we began to feed them, give them the space they required (I have to admit that there was a part of me that couldn’t help but feel a sense of betrayal to the memory of my late dog).  After a few weeks, the best we could do is convince the family to move from our house to the garage.

I may sound cold and callous in my account, but I’ve actually been crazy about animals since I was a kid. But just like with people, I take time to bond with them. Nevertheless, I’m always observing in awe from a distance, and defending their rights as best as I can.

Several times over the past few years I’ve wished I had a dog again for a pet.  A lot of my neighbours have dogs – mostly pedigrees. To add to my yearning, I noticed a growing population of stray mongrels in my neighbourhood. I never summoned the courage to get one, given my erratic schedules. The sight of owners and dog walkers parading their beautiful pets on a leash was making me a tad jealous.

However, the sight of a pet dog with collar and leash – head held high, walking obediently beside the owner;  while a stray dog or cat a few feet away making his own rules, is something else.

It’s nothing remarkable, a fairly common sight. But as a person longing for a pet, it was an epiphany that changed my perception. It felt like something kicked me off the ‘humane’ high horse and made me rethink the concept of a ‘pet’. I wouldn’t be surprised if other species on the planet voted ‘exaggerated self importance‘ as the most insufferable human quality.

Most, if not all of us already know and agree that being cruel to animals is bad. But how much good, is too good?  The line appears blurry to me. Animals lovers like to wear their superhero cape and swoop in for the rescue. Sure, it helps at shelters that kill strays, just for not having a home.  But the real question is – do they actually have no home?

As intelligent, human folk capable of rational thought, we decide that stray dogs, cats and every other non homo sapien is a pest and a general nuisance (we that think that of our own species, but that’s a whole other discussion!).  They are removed from neighbourhoods in an attempt to ‘clean’ it up and make it ‘safe’.

A tad blinded by their love, animal enthusiasts on the other hand take responsibility for their four legged friends and lock them away at home, set boundaries and dictate terms. Sort of like booking them in one of those luxury prisons. Sure the little guys are safe from predators, but what about their freedom?

My brother and I have adopted stray dogs and kittens several times in our childhood. In retrospect, in our quest to be heroes I wonder how many families we inadvertantly uprooted!

Moreover, we can’t help extend human attributes onto other species. We respect pedigree horses, cows, dogs, cats – only the purest breed is worth anything.  A pure bred Cockerspaniel mating with a Daschund, scandalous! What would their puppies look like? What would they be worth?!  In effect we created a caste system for other animals, put a price on their head and parade them around in beauty pageants.  But can you blame us for wanting to spice up their simple, boring lives?

As a peace loving vegetarian, I’m far from innocent –  projecting my own beliefs onto animals.  Similar to me, vegetarianism was imbibed into my dog since he was a pup. He accepted, didn’t complain and grew up to be a healthy dog. However, this was not the case with THE CAT. She lapped up all the vegetarian food we gave her, as did her kittens. But she is a hunter by nature, and would occasionally catch a rat or a innocent pigeon.  I’ll admit it’s still hard for me to accept, despite knowing about the food chain, and the circle of life. But I feel delicate to upset the balance of nature. Though its really tempting.

The mouse in my yard and I, were both born on earth. I doubt either of us had a choice in the matter of birth, let alone selecting our species.  The strays have taught me to stop longing for a pet, the notion seems selfish. For a while now, I’ve been consciously feeding stray dogs – especially new mothers and their puppies. There are several groups that provide medical assistance for the injured, and raise money for vaccinations before they’re returned to the neighbourhood.  I’m not sure how much thought people put into this matter, but I have seen a lot of people do this. Since we’re depleting a steady food supply for other creatures, it makes sense for us to share some of our food.  The beautiful thing is that when it comes to cats and dogs, if you pay attention you can see them give back. Stray dogs often presume the role of watch dogs, barking their heads off in case of suspicious activity in the neighbourhood. Cats on the other hand take care of the rat problem.

We didn’t like to entertain pigeon murder at our place,  so our compromise was to put the cat family in the garage. They’re free to walk in and out as they please.  They occasionally have a menacing tom cat as a visitor. But who am I to judge?

Popular opinion is that its cruel to put a bird in a cage. I completely agree.  I only think it makes sense to extend the same logic  to a fish in a bowl, and a horse in a stable.  If we really do care about animals, perhaps we shouldn’t act like overbearing, smothering parents.

It’s time to move over, and make some space for our fellow earthlings. If it helps, you can just pretend you didn’t see that scary spider behind the cupboard. She likes her privacy.

Rambling On.. Isn’t that what personal blogs are about?

“We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while. How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real?”
– Ray Bradbury, Farenheit 451

“You can’t change the world Sam.” – that’s what my close friend always said to me. He was right.

In fact I’ve heard variations to that statement from quite a few people over the years. The reaction is usually the result of me venting my heart out about some injustice in the world that had me all riled up.  I don’t blame them, I know they’re as helpless as me in most situations. But being helpless pisses me off.

I also believe we’re not always as helpless as we claim we are. That’s when the rambling starts. As well as the accusations of me being “idealistic”, “emotional”, “impractical”.  I say accused because that’s the tone people use when they say it, like I am committing a terrible offense. After much deliberation I’ve come to terms with my perception of ideals – they are a good thing to have.  In fact, shouldn’t we encourage ideals in people? There’s the tiresome idealism again 😉 I’m also convinced that feeling emotions don’t have to cloud judgement, they also foster ideas of empathy that could lead to better choices.

After countless days of frustration and heated discussions with friends, family, acquaintances (yeah, after a while I noticed the argumentative pattern too) over state of affairs; I’ve finally decided to take the sage advice of channeling my thoughts into a blog.

In other words, I’m giving people around me a break. I’m instead using the internet to reach out to more people to annoy them too. I suspect a lot of you care, or cared about things at some point before you decided it was all futile.

I invite you to get pissed more often. We might actually make a difference.

And on that note here begins my soliloquy..