In February 2020, my country was bleeding over a constitutional amendment. People were killing each other, riots were happening in different cities in India, bloodshed, anger, fear, pain had overpowered the nation as a whole.
As of today, March 2020, the country is facing a national lockdown for a completely different reason altogether. In fact, it is not about India alone, it is a situation humans are facing globally. A pandemic caused by a coronavirus for the first time in history as declared by World Health Organization (WHO) has taken lives rapidly all over the globe. It may be a long journey before we all know that we are safe completely.
At the outbreak of a pandemic that is taking lives in large numbers globally, it is time to realize the irony between the fear of death overpowering humans and the fearlessness of killing each other. The time to realize that life is precious and beautiful only when we let it be.
The number of people either killed or out on a vengeance during the riots over the last few months in our country could have been controlled had we realized the importance to practice resilience, unity, peace, harmony and its like. At a situation when people around the globe do not know how soon the pandemic is going to catch on to them, precautions and awareness is the need of the hour rather than spreading panic. The need of the hour is to stay away from associating a stigma with the pandemic, to take care of the mental and emotional health along with adhering to the precautions needed.
The bottom-line, life is precious. To thrive and grow, we must adhere to practicing empathy, acceptance and solidarity. We must be responsible as humans, and as citizens of our nation. The need of the hour should always be embracing life and not bloodshed. I know that the two situations I am talking of are completely different and may be looked at with a raised eyebrow. The only point I wanted to raise here is that it is not about the numbers of people dying, or suffering – but it is about realizing that as humans we are beyond anything that corners us down. No matter which nation we belong to, no matter what the religion, caste, creed, race, colour, strata, economic, social and cultural conditions – the start and the end line is humanity.
Just like countries globally are uniting to detect, test, treat, isolate and mobilize their people in the wake of the pandemic, is it not possible for us to stop raising the gun and kill each other during the time of any political, social, cultural and religious uproar? I am hopeful the nation and all other nations have realized by now that there are certain things we cannot control with a gun in our hand. It is time we unite in more ways than one to combat each moment of this crisis or any other in the future.
The power lies in not to force down things down the throat but to be kind to each other. While the fear of the unseen and unknown has crept in largely across boundaries, the unpredictable situation has rung a loud bell amidst mankind. As responsible humans we need to realize that it is of utmost importance to prevent the pandemic from spreading to clusters and further down to communities. To be responsible enough to take the precautions, to tap the pandemic from spreading, brave enough to get medical help, strong enough to go through the treatment and be safe. To rise up and stop spreading the panic, to ensure a healthy future for the sake of humanity.