Today, as the COVID-19 pandemic becomes a blow to every aspect of our existence, our routine already has got distracted for obvious reasons. Aside our fears of ‘things will never take for granted’ nowadays, endless questions starting to pop-up our mind, including; how this pandemic and the lockdown remedy will affect our job and our future? Will it be getting over? Will be a moment of tête-à-tête as group in future? A moment to huge or to shake hands randomly? etc are among others. As many witnesses throughout the globe, financial and health worries, on top of a lack of normalcy for everything contented is still causing immense anxiety and self-disruptions. In turn, the most pressing issue is a discussion in relation to future plans. It is expected for someone who get locked amid a very concerned life threat that to ask a very logical question how he/she could have any plans sitting in his/her home, sometimes getting confused to know the exact day and month he/she is living in.
The nervousness as well get alarmed by everyday world mainstream news reports more people in more countries diagnosed “positive” for the corona virus illness, often, a form of panic forces shopping for masks, disinfections, canned goods as a personal remedy for survival. In Eritrea for instance, it was true to say that the day where the first case has get confirmed, everybody get hurry to buy those things. Eritrean society has been encountered by multiple crises throughout a century sourced from natural as well as man-made calamites. But, this was the most complicated ones.
Our society has fought so far against international imperials, and their zealots in Ethiopia (particularly, Hailesilassie, Mengstiu, Meles) whom their combined efforts had created an immense danger in terms of material and spiritual dimensions. Also, such a fight was accompanied by natural disasters, including drought, flood, locust invasion and others, make more difficult to purse living as it is naturally destined to be. Nonetheless, there were always ‘path finders’ get involved in demanding situations, sometimes outside the physical boundary of the crises also. For example, if there was war fought within the country, it was greatly supported by nationals neither harmed physically, nor exposed to its scum directly; work day and night to support the just cause from somewhere else outside the country.
Back to this moment, no one is safe in the face of COVID-19 global pandemic, we all exposes to its health, financial and psychological tribulations all at once. Thus, presently we face a true crisis – a crisis in the fullest sense of the discussion. In fact, the best remedy and the best scientific advice against this phenomena is to maintain social distancing and in some respect to get quartered at least for weeks. Then, there is a query by many what is this all about or what is the meaning of all this. The sole reason behind asking such a question grounds solely on the way how we do living in relation to our communal culture. At depth, our culture is full of common ways of doing things. In our culture, talking and eating together, dancing jointly and a motive to shake hands to everyone to express gratitude is not an exception, but a rule ordered every situation. Therefore, despite we have been bound by love, starting to find each other as unbearable is in fact difficult to accept accordingly. At the same time, we cannot afford the cost of being exposed to the pandemic and overlooking its results likewise.
Equally, knowing what a point does this moment want to voice will helps us a lot above all. A crisis is defined not simply by the magnitude of the problem, but rather, by how it compels us to question our basic conventions and preconceptions. This implies that within the darkness of every crisis there lies a seed, a grain of something from which a new reality, a new way of thinking of us and our duties to each other, can emerge. Hence, the good points can clarify using two spectrums; the first one in relation to our intrapersonal coherence and the second in relation to our meaning in reference to our surroundings or our interpersonal connections.
The first point is, credit to this moment we have got an opportunity to asses our own self-integration towards our individual self and to our soul. From moment like this, we can learn to take concrete steps to manage our thoughts and our time as this is a good time to nurture the self more patience and self-discipline than ever. This is a time to stop and so do to think, think and think a lot about our future, our beloved ones and above all about the world by itself. Our objective in life has nothing to purse separated from the direct meaning of the term love by itself. Now is a perfect time to give love to others, to relax, to think slowly, to let go harmful addictions and simulating future objectives, which are a best rewards of this moment.
Another one, the second point is related to what our self has been meant to be in the face of others. Co-operative value is an ethical rule that guides our society to stay self-help in order to help others. Believing in ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others are the sole instruments of our life works under the motto of “in social capital we trust”. In Eritrea, we have a perfect culture of cooperation as well as mutuality. The culture of mutuality has proven to be by a plain fact that there have been more 200 million Nakfa donations nationwide to help the needy ones. This is also accompanied by a neighborhood works with neighborhood together to foresee the challenge. Then, this is a point where we as human needed to exercise our instinct, to share what we have, and to breathe collectively and to ensure our solidarity at testing times. We are not licensed to claim that we are the only society who exercises such kind of activity as a norm. But, we create a strong point that we maintain our pride to be one of amongst the many whom apply such a norm at its deepest versions.
Indeed, I am not someone who practically prays for some pandemics to come in order to reframe a point in relation to our personal and social orders. But, even though we are still living in a plight of live, it is inspiring to make some progressive points from it, rather than consuming our energy to hunt the meaning of it is my conclusive point.
Amanuel Zekarias