Lessons from Covid-19

Covid-19 - The humbling experience

 

The Covid-19 pandemic worldwide including our country is taking us through some painful but humbling experience like never before. We have may made great strides from the primitive caveman to the present modern, sophisticated and civilized man. In the process we have achieved so much with our knowledge and technology. Today we have mastered the means to make sophisticated machinery and weapons, build skyscraping buildings, cruise the globe in sophisticated planes and luxury ships, we have reached the highest peaks and the deepest oceans and even reached distant planets in our high-tech rockets and spaceships. Yes, we managed to become the mightiest species on this planet. The earth which we came in as guests we are now the masters, or at least we think we are.

In the process we fought one another conquering vast lands and making others our slaves. We destroyed hills and mountains, we polluted the land and the sea. We destroyed fellow creatures on this planet. Yes, we committed many more atrocities and made ourselves the masters of the world. Despite the many warnings sent by Mother Nature to remind us we are just her guests, we refused to heed and continued to go on a carnage to destroy what is not ours.

Suddenly this one virus, Covid-19, brought people all over, including the rich and powerful nations, to their knees. It has made us realize that we are nothing compared to the forces of Nature. It has leashed widespread destruction of man and caused the collapse of all that he had achieved. This ultra-microscopic enemy continues to rage through the world, one country after another, to inflict fear in the hearts of man. Despite all the powerful weapons at our disposal, we stands helpless as none can destroy the invisible enemy.

In this assault by the Covid-19, it sends us an important message that money, wealth and power are useless against the enemy as it cannot be bought or destroyed with the most sophisticated weapons. Selfishness and greed takes you nowhere. Race, creed and culture are no barriers to its attack. Everyone from the highest to the lowest are not spared in this attack by Covid-19.

The fight against this new enemy can only be won by the good old gold standards we were known for as Malaysians; Unity of the people of all races, willingness to cooperate with one another, consideration for each other, willing to reach out to those affected and empathy for those in pain and dying in the hospitals. These are our lost values that resurfaces to remind us of their preciousness.

In short it is our willingness to transcend race and creed, to accept everyone as equal fellow citizens and unite as one race, Malaysian, to fight this invisible enemy that will bring us victory. From our experience we know these are the most difficult criteria to meet by our government and people. There are scattered calls for the return of these values that kept us together, but will our bloated human super ego ever permit us to humble ourselves to unite?

After the pandemic storm is finally over and we pick up the pieces and reorganize our lives, we should realize folly of our mentally; we are more superior and can control the universe and do to Nature as we please. However Covid-19 has come along to tell us no matter who we are, no matter how much worldly possession and power we have, we actually have no control over the Universe. We can never be masters only guests of  Mother Earth, so let us at least be good guests.