Still, on the critical factors, our courage often fails us
to speak about them because of fear of the possible reprisals from the
authorities in high places and of being told how shallow we are in our thought
process.
Born in the early ’80s, I have witnessed a fair share of the
bad and the ugly around the world such as staying at home a whole year due to
University strikes by the lecturers in my country; falling sick with asthma(in
near-death experience), flu and malaria at various times while staying home for
a number of days; jobless for months and, watching on TVs the devastations of
war and non-war crimes. All these events had equally shocked me to my core, and
to wonder if our beautiful world can ever be safe for all and save us all from
the expected and unexpected.
In 2015, Bill Gates saw the COVID-19 virus coming as an air
contaminated outbreak and forewarned us in his TED Talk titled “The next
outbreak? We’ re not ready.”. It echoed the growing concerns of humanitarians
and scientists on world peace: what and whatnot? as well as emphasized the
urgency for our world leaders to make excellent preparations for our health
care systems that are greatly underfunded in developing countries, expensive
and unaffordable for many including immigrants and the downtrodden in our
societies; and taking the welfare of our healthcare workers more seriously than
sports’ personalities paid in millions of dollars per week. Now, in the year
2020, COVID-19 begs the rhetorical question on what has been achieved? If
recent events have not answered this question, never will. The facts remained
that the human race is highly connected in unimaginable, complex dimensions
linked by the (common) air we breathe, the ground we walk, the place we work,
and the friends we have i.e. to mention a few; such that before contemplating a
war, and developing a new arsenal of powerful weapons at enormous costs with the
price tag to pay we should first estimate the humanitarian costs in terms of
these critical factors: our environment, our families, our health, our
neighbours, our livelihoods, and all basic necessities of life.
The facts remained that the human race is highly connected
in unimaginable complex dimensions linked by the (common) air we breathe, the
ground we walk, the place we work, the friends we have…
Still, on the critical factors, our courage often fails us
to speak about them because of fear of the possible reprisals from the
authorities in high places and of being told how shallow we are in our thought
process. Today, as we look at the mirror and reflect on the number of deaths
due to COVID-19, the overstretching of our health care systems, the shutting
down of businesses and religious institutions; the reality should dawn on us
that all life matters, as Jesus Christ said “love your neighbours as
yourself”(Mark 12:31); it should dawn how much we need to walk and work
together with arms in arms as brothers and sisters just like Martin Luther King
Jr. encouraged us to always do; and it should dawn on our memories how and why
generations of great Men and Women chose to cherish, pursue and seek peace at
all cost despite the temptations to do otherwise. The onus of time beacons us
to follow the path of peace, to re-imagine the world we live and to be united
at the frontlines to make the world a better place to live.
Stay safe, be blessed and kindly reflect!
“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the
children of God.”
— Jesus Christ, Matthew 5:9
“You must make a decision that you are going to move on. It
won’t happen automatically. You will have to rise up and say, ‘I don’t care how
hard this is, I don’t care how disappointed I am, I’m not going to let this get
the best of me. I’m moving on with my life.”
— Joel Osteen“
“Anyone can say they care. But watch their actions, not
their words.”
— Buddha
“There are no great things, only small things with great
love. Happy are those. Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to
you without leaving happier. Peace begins with a smile…”
— Mother Theresa
“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and
find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”
— Rubi
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