The phobia COVID-19, what we can do

The world is facing one of the most difficult challenges of current time due to COVID 19, and the floating major message of this alarm “is no guaranty of anything” “beware, beware and beware”; still we human have not won the ultimate reality of life- the death.

We all, let us say who has excess to information (any kind) to the news know about the dreadful nature of COVID 19, which has already taken thousands of lives. Many of us are in a virus trap or on the way to its shadow. As we already know that COVID-19 is so dangerous that its entry in our body is the entry of poison, which has insofar no direct treatment.

We all are noticing that the virus is super painful in various ways. First, there is the fear of death, that is what happening now and we never know how long it will be continued.

Let us create positive energy which will help to the speedy recovery of our loved ones who are fighting with the virus (sure they will win).

Secondly, it heats directly to the human civilization, because- it is pandemic so, whoever got a virus – he or she first is out from the inherited family system. It breaks the chain of love system-emotion system, sensitivity, and immediately, forced to think, ‘who is important’.

It shoots into the eternal part of the feelings and penetrates the thinking pattern which separates us from we to I, and makes each of us individual. It is the direct threat of our social system. We all know that death is the ultimate reality- however- none of “us” or “I” are prepared or will be prepared and ready to accept (except few- who might have different issues in lives).

CORONA, now we can add a new dictionary meaning as ‘pain on humanity’. This pain has two folds, (1) The pain of victims, who are under control system- I mean who is identified as corona positive, have symbols and already in the hospital or self or forced isolation distance box (who may defeat to the virus and come to normal life or virus will defeat and they will be distancing forever); (2) the pain of the loved ones of the victims.

This twirled pain what human society has been facing now, cannot be expressed in any language. How to feel the pain of a dying person, who wanted to tell/share some secrets of his or her life; or the pain of family members, who wanted to say goodbye in their loved one in the last breath. Due to the risk of virus transformation, it is not permitted to be close to anyone.

How will the society overcome that pain and loss of family members? It is breaking our hearts, social system, society and the essence of the future direction of lives in a way that it is almost impossible to recover.

Even a family member is not allowed to perform the final rituals of a loved one. The pain of the death of the family member and not having access to say goodbye creates a psychological pain cycle- which can create a social phobia. And it is happening now. What will be the social impact of such a tragedy?

How will the society overcome that pain and loss of family members? It is breaking our hearts, social system, society and the essence of the future direction of lives in a way that it is almost impossible to recover.

The globe is already entered towards the social devastation, and there is a chance of frustrations among us, could create deviant behavior and it could lead the system failure, not only socially, economically, culturally but also in a political arena. The trust in power could be altered and there is a chance of an increase of famine with the epidemic.

As we begin to notice, people are so frightened, people already begin to strike back to the social and political norms “Necessity knows no laws” (see news related to lockdown).

This pandemic is breaking world order towards the negativism, and it is hard to foresee the degree of social breakdown, however, the symbols show that it will be the hardest harm in the human civilization. Still, we can minimize the havoc impact, if we discipline ourselves as a responsible citizen. It depends on how the leadership of each country work collectively, mutually and wisely.

It also depends on how we as responsible citizens provide a positive environment to support the leadership. It is not a time of blame but is the time to contribute to saving humanity.

This pandemic created complete uncertainty on human civilization and broke the chain of the social, political, economic, religious and environmental system, which we have been practicing, from generation to generation.

Now, we all are horrified, terrified, having the phobia of uncertainty, wounded internally and externally and even not able to prepare to make sequential efforts to fight with this pandemic.

The late response or preparedness occurred because we could not foresee the connection of the world, were not able to think that ‘the pain neighbor is facing could be my pain too’. If that reality was realized on time, it would not spread as it is now.

Now, there is no point of heating the wounded part, However, it is just in the beginning stage in many parts of the world, therefore, it is absolutely essential to take the protective measures as much as possible (the media has been publishing it every single hour- what to do- so it is not necessary to illustrate here- we all know – what to do).

Most of us might be at home, still scared, frightened; however, what about some of us who are in travel, who are trapped to different countries, or migrants, or the people in refugee camps due to inhumane greed of power.

What if the pandemic penetrates in that already broken, dismantled, sunk in sorrow frame of society, where people are dying every day without food and water? What about some of us who are still living in slums, or the no nation situation? How these will come under the watch system? What will be the consequences of this phobic uncertainty?

The blackish cloud of the pandemic, has captured our entire planet and the thunderstorms of COVID, have penetrated, wounded our hearts in a way that we are scared and feared internally, eternally and also externally.

The concern is so serious that we already stopped regular communication, and whatever we are talking about is all about the fear of Corona Virus (we do not have any agenda to discuss except virus and it created phobia).

It is the time to give up the greediness of self-centric me and only me motive and think that- I may be the next victim of the virus. And also, it is the time to think that my meaning of life is only significant if we all are here on this planet. It is the time to feel and think the bottom line of life-what does it mean?

All social media, all news channels, print and online media, the regular official conversations- are not expressing anything except the dreadful picture of virus [let us see what data says; if we type corona google gave: About 3,990,000,000 occurrence results (0.44 seconds); Coronavirus About 5,260,000,000 results (0.58 seconds); Corona update About 3,990,000,000 results (0.48 seconds); Corona Government About 106,000,000 results (0.33 seconds); Corona media About 2,350,000,000 results (0.32 seconds); Corona epidemic About 1,440,000,000 results (0.44 seconds); Corona – doctor About 3,310,000,000 results (0.48 seconds); corona spread About 6,440,000,000 results (0.62 seconds); corona threat About 5,620,000,000 results (0.62 seconds)- at 3/29/20 at 2.26 AM US Eastern time]. Surprisingly, google search has not captured the concern floated in the social medias These occurrences are our worrisome, our concern, the anxiety the entire world is having. It simply shows that the threat, the pain of this pandemic is beyond our thinking pattern.

The communication pattern itself is dangerous because it is heating the emotional side, sensitive side and the side of humanity, through which we are different than an animal. How COVID kind of epidemic comes, it is the subject of long debate and research.

However, the heat of this virus might be the first in human history, where, the world so much connected due to advancements in a communication system. Now, all of us almost citizens of every country know that, ultimately, Corona may take our lives or if not at least provide maximum torture we can imagine.

Many of us who have a strong immune system, good health, good food, care, medicinal excess, the healthcare system will win to CORONA, and who are already having health problems, have no infrastructures and resources to fight; have to say goodbye.

So, what- absolutely, all the governments need to join hands, to fight against this, all power should pour to resolve this crisis. This is the attack on humanity, so it is the responsibility of every citizen of the world to survive first and help to survive others, without any discrimination of race, gender, ethnicity, nationalities, social-cultural and economic strata, and nations geographical boundaries.

It is the time to give up the greediness of self-centric me and only me motive and think that- I may be the next victim of the virus. And also, it is the time to think that my meaning of life is only significant if we all are here on this planet. It is the time to feel and think the bottom line of life-what does it mean?

It is high time that everyone contributed to the society, whatever we have with the factual truth that I may be the next victim and may not see this beautiful world tomorrow. Therefore, this is the time to take a lesson and suppress/remove the erratic nature we have.

It is time to remove cruel, egotistic, deceitful, imprudent, malicious, and other “me or I centric” nature we have. This is the time to nurture love, forgiveness, calmness, wisdom, reassurance and feel and realize the value of the own life and lives of others.

It is the time to think that there is something more powerful than weapons, wealth, power and pride. We need to appreciate the role of media and technology, which is giving us the way to see, feel and realize what is happening around, surround and the globe. A small case that appeared in China has now become a global challenge.

In the beginning, when China was suffering, the world leaderships did not realize that we may be the next victim; we did not realize that we all are connected, and we all are the same in one way or another. Instead of sympathizing, we simply reacted that, it is their problem, not mine.

However, now, Corona has forced us to realize the fact that we all humans are interconnected with each other. It clearly shows that we all are tightly connected- and it is the time to think and apply – the philosophy of Basudaiva Kutumbakam (all Earth is our house and all living being are our relative- http://ologyjournals.com/aaeoa/aaeoa_00019.pdf), or live and let other live. http://ologyjournals.com/aaeoa/aaeoa_00020.pdf. Insofar, we all are maintaining social distances, however, in my opinion, it is also a time of strengthening love, respect and honor between us, not being in near but being dear and loved one.

I urge to all my loved ones, (I mean all men and women of the world, one way or another I am connected with you and you are connected with me- we all are we the human) to remain connected within our own niche first, and beyond our niche and to the globe (there are ample of ways, we all already know them, regularly using them one way or another); and selflessly contribute to the society, whatever we have as much as possible, as wisely as possible, without any expectation. The contribution could be anything – “whatever we have”.

We should not use our energy to blame governments, authorities, or anyone, no one to be blamed, but we should offer the positivity, knowledge, and power of togetherness. At the bottom of the heart, we should think that we may not have time to share or express the thankfulness among us. So, let us not be greedy to express the gratitude and to acknowledge the contributions anyone has poured in our journey,

Let us pray for our loved ones who left us because of this dreadful virus for their peaceful departure and thank them for their contribution to humanity. Let us create positive energy which will help to the speedy recovery of our loved ones who are fighting with the virus (sure they will win). Hopefully, the situation will come under control soon. Self-discipline is a core medicine of COVID 19. Let us activate discipline within, between and among us and follow as strictly as possible. For sure we will defeat Corona, or any other endemic virus may appear again on the way of our beautiful life journey.

(Prof. Medani P. Bhandari, PhD, — Prof. at Akamai University, Hilo, Hawaii, USA and Sumy State University, Ukraine– is a well-known social scientist and humanitarian; have published hundreds of scientific papers on international journals mainly within the domain of climate change, sustainable development, biodiversity conservation and roles of an international organization. He has published four books on climate change, the role of the International organization, Inequality and Sustainability respectively as well as few volumes of poetry with Prajita Bhandari. Copyright @medani bhandari)