A quote often used as a reference, given by Charles Darwin in the origin of species “It is not the strongest or the most intelligent of the species that survive but the ones that are most adaptable to change” it holds true at a time like this where we as people should adapt to the new change in our lives to just simply survive.
When someone asks you this question, ‘If you had the power to take a decision on fighting Covid-19, what would you do?’ You or I or anybody for that matter would easily say ‘we are commoners but if I worked for the government then I would train and deploy more doctors to treat people, give them protective gears and more supplies, be more strict on the curfew, help the homeless, help with the essential supplies, so on and so forth’. But, Do you think this is our first struggle? No! We always had one thing or another. The only difference is, this is our struggle together. Because, it’s not you versus me or him versus her. It is we versus an entity, the virus.
But, let me tell you something. Nobody needs to be at the top of the Pyramid to have power. Who says that only our president, Prime minister, chief minister or for that matter only all of the officials have power?
Every single person in our country has the power within him. We live because of the power we have. Power to overcome hurdles, power to face our struggles, power to simply wake up everyday and be better than who were yesterday. The power is within us. And sometimes, there is a lot of power in doing just nothing. In this context, it simply means being responsible and kind enough to stay indoors. Am sure everyone has heard of the “Domino Effect” where one event sets off a chain reaction and that is what we need to avoid.
We are all heroes who could save ourselves and someone else by just being indoors, trying to be productive and trying to make a difference. Instead we crib. We used to crib that we need to go to work and work at odd hours and now we crib that we are always at home and its difficult. We used to crib about meeting friends and relatives and now we can’t wait to see them. We always cribbed about school or college and now we can’t wait to get back. Cribbing has become our inherent nature and we have accepted that to be the norm. And that’s where we miserably failed.We never respected and understood the importance of sanitation workers until this instant. We never understood the kindness of some of these officers who stay on the roads just so we can stay safe indoors. We never bothered about the small shops selling basic essentials when we wandered off towards fancy supermarkets. I think in our journey towards materialistic things, we lost sight of what is important. Our basic humanity! . But, now we could still adapt. We could contribute whatever we can from wherever we are. Be it help your neighbor, help the needy, feed the strays, do your part by working from home or learning new things. Infact, we humans are never satisfied. We were always running towards something that it has become difficult for us to take a moment and stay still.
And that is something worth pondering over.
Dr.Swarna Meenakshi
