Love in the Time of Corona.
By: South Asian Wonder Woman
Tags: Corona, Virus, Hope, Humanity, Love

Love in the Time of Corona.

Will it make sense to the reader if I actually confessed, that I anticipated a full scale war rather than a pandemic. South Asian Wonder Woman Mar 15, 2020·4 min read

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash — Partially self edited. Original Title: Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez.

Any type of crisis instills fear in humanity but it also brings forth kindness. Or this is what I wanted to believe in. But amidst the Kashmir Lockdown, increasing world political tension, and now the novel Corona Virus, I have found myself questioning;

Where is the love?

When I heard about this massive outbreak, I anticipated that there would be a plan, an organised global scale plan to combat the virus, I wanted to believe that we live in a world of new medical breakthroughs and advancements of healthcare but we don’t. Its tiring to even type this with the heavy realisation that our world is much more prepared to go to war than to handle a viral infection.

There is no denying that the Corona Virus has affected the global economies, healthcare systems and personal liberties of individuals, but it has affected kindness more. This virus has put us in a fight or flight mode, an automated selfish response, if I must say. It has pushed a lot of individuals to go on survival instinct, a primitive response. But if there is one aspect of human life that has been affected more by our primitive response, its empathy and kindness.

We are not realising this, but there is a clear halt to the structure of life as we know, and even though it is not as bad in some parts of the world, just the idea of it is making people change plans. I am personally one of those people who felt like they are finally getting a hang of their life and were brave enough to make plans but now are directly effected by the outbreak of this virus. The idea of life, the tiny scribbled plan of tomorrow we had is somehow being put on a pause.The plans that were once based on inclusions now lack the basic courtesy of humanity. I have read numerous accounts were we as individuals have failed to show kindness, empathy and care to others in this massive healthcare crisis. The arena is suddenly about, to each their own. And that is terrifying.

From my personal experience and observation so far, I see people line up more and more in front of grocery stores, but I wonder how many people are actually informing the lesser informed individuals of the society. Yes, I know the media plays a major role in distribution of information and informing everyone, regardless of the social stratification but I don’t believe its able to solve religious myths and combat the rumors churning the global rumour mill.

The virus hasn’t reached Lahore, but clearly the tremors have. Yesterday, I was on a rikshaw ride and the driver expressed his views regarding the spread of the virus:

“Baji, yeh virus musalmano ko nahi hoge, app Allah par yakeen rakhti ho tou appko nai hoge.” Translation: “Sister, Muslims won’t get this virus, you believe in Allah, you won’t get this.”

Another interesting driver shared his deep concern over how this is a planned virus to effect China and its economy, to bring it down by the Americans. The misconception and rumors surrounding Corona Virus aren’t helping the situation. Even on the global front, China is seen as the culprit, there is a clear racist attack on the Chinese community all around the world. Comments and derogatory remarks, insensitive headlines have aided in creating more communal tension, lack of acceptance and open physical attacks on individuals and business.

This is NOT what we need right now.

Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash

I deeply feel that as much as self-quarantine is important and needed in these times, reaching out to others, communicating, and empathy are equally important.

This long self imposed periods of self-quarantine will end, the supermarkets that you are running to will soon have the supplies again, this viral outbreak will be over but what will be left behind, what you will be leaving behind, in the aftermath of all this, is your words and actions. What you do during this crisis, what you sow, is what will reflect of you in the future.

Typing this, all I know is that love doesn’t take much, it doesn’t need much, it is not just between two people, or in the three synchronised words. Love is kindness, love is caring, its the smile you give to a stranger, it is getting basic supplies for those who can’t afford, asking your neighbour if they need any supplies from the same supermarket that you are planning to stock up unnecessarily from, it is reaching out to the survivors of the virus, and equally to those who are suffering from it, a text from you won’t risk your life but will only show the care and hope. It is informing those who don’t have accurate information, it is reaching out, it is about creating a safe communal place where individuals can turn to, it is about inclusion.

Together, we have dealt with so much worse than this.

This too shall pass.