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.