The Sunday Feed!
By: John_Khalkho Yahoo.Com
Tags: Vaccines, Australia, USA, World, UK

The Sunday Feed!

A Teetering Mind

We are almost on the cusp of ending 2020 as the calendar might suggest. Rather, it looks like the taste is going to linger for much more than what we expected. Never had I imagined that I would be speaking of macabre events at the beginning of a new year but motivate myself with a much more positive outlook. As hard as I try to look the other way, I find reality staring at me with strong vehemence like a shadow that refuses to disappear even when the sun is out.

As a normal citizen of the world, I do care for the wellbeing of the people who live in different corners and hope for their best. But the figures of the populace and countries affected by the pandemic is staggering with US and India leading the world in the number of cases and fatalities. Well, I do not want to delve any further in the statistic, as the event is as distasteful as its affect. The impact it has had on the countries, the people and the universe is gravely sickening.

Christmas, New Year, this is a time when people all around the world are full of enthusiasm and excitement. They are quite preoccupied in looking forward to a time when they can restart their annual expedition with all the freshness of renewed energy and motivation. It has been seen that around 60% of people, make new-year resolutions or at least they openly admit of making them. My understanding of human behavior is that the figure could be as high as 80% if you include the shy, secretive ones. But if you look around as to how the top 10 countries of the world are struggling to cope with the pandemic, it is highly likely that most will give this resolution ritual a big pass this year.

Well, this is not a good attitude for us to begin 2021 with but it sadly is the reality. People are not sure what is happening to the world. One day the airports are open and then there is an announcement that they will be closed for a month. One day the gym is open and then you are back to walking even if that is not your most preferred way to exercise. One day the restaurants have a sign, “Business as usual” and then the next morning there is a whole list of guidelines to turn the enthusiastic customers away. This is how the events keep changing while the virus scuttles from one place to another like an evil goblin.

I remember when this virus invaded us it engulfed everyone with extreme fear, which later transformed to boredom due to long periods of isolation. Now, there is a high degree of fatigue. People have just had enough. They just want this trespasser to go. The vaccine though in the initial stages of being tested for its efficacy is the perfect weapon we have proudly developed so far. Kudos to all the people who worked on it with extreme passion and fervor! However, the real challenge lies in the administration of the vaccine because I believe it is supposed to be stored in extreme cold temperatures. Which to me is also the big question because while everyone keeps talking about producing the vaccine on a mass scale by relentlessly running the assembly lines 24/ 7, no one actually talks about the logistics that needs to be developed for distribution.

As of today, India has got more than 10 million cases with Brazil having more than 7 million. Even small country like Peru with a population of around 31 million people has got more than a million cases. And unless everyone is vaccinated, there is very high chance that this pandemic will prevail. This makes people think much harder as to what the near future holds for them. Will I have a job in the next year, will I be affected, will I have enough money to survive and if yes, for how long. And this sentiment does not do any good for businesses because they cannot open one day and close the other. They have to run for a considerable period of time and have a respected customer-base to meet the costs.

I personally do not have any answers but I might not be the only one. The stock market’s also as impaired as me when it comes to predicting the future. Up one day, free-falling the other. I hope my predictions are not true but figuratively speaking, we are looking at a period of at least 6 months before some sort of certainty sets in. Economy is usually up or down but it looks like we are about to coin a new phrase in economy called “Tentative” till the teetering mind settles down. One way or the other!