QUARANTINE, ECONOMY, ROPES AND RATS
Shouldn’t I think that I am
writing about suicide today? Then why the rope and the rats? Shouldn’t I think
that I am writing anthrax today? Then why the quarantine? Or shouldn’t I think
that I am writing poverty today? Then why the economy? I also do not know.
Before my final punctuation, I shall have known what I am writing about.
Today morning I forced myself
from the tempting friendliness of my warm bed. I did not yawn like on other
cold mornings. I stretched in the falling morning dew and shouted words in the
title of this writing as I thought about what to ink down about it.
Having travelled upcountry due to
family demand, the imminent surging of the cost of living in the city (I am not
shy to state but yes I mean food prices), the popular belief that it is ‘good
to die’ from home and the countrywide need for social distancing, I am in the one-meter
distance company of my young brother Crescent who does not understand and is
unwilling to understand why it is now a fortnight without returning to school
to do his end of Term One Exams.
Meanwhile, his facial expression
reveals his hurting struggle to interpret the noise in my title. The social
distancing has neither ruined nor diluted his inquisitive traits. Having
understood only one word in the title (ropes), he did not have any slight business
to do with the other words ‘quarantine and economy’. To him, they were either
not loudly mentioned like the other word or they were another name of a new
breed of exotic goats or a statement in a foreign language to mean, “Thank you
Jesus”. I know that he was irritated that amid the sweet rays of the rising
sun, I mentioned rats of all the words that I know. Late last year, he declared
rats his totem when the rats that visited his school dormitory nibbled the
button of his suit. He neither mentions them nor points at their hole.
He asked me, “What do you mean by
ropes? Do you want to peg the cows?” I told him that he had guessed right. He ran
to the store to pick the ropes as I reached for my typing pad to put this
edifice of words together.
Common agreement: Quarantine and
stay home are the most optimal decisions for this crisis. Whoever disagrees
needs urgent cerebral medical attention.
But look, it is neither the
romance of words that I seek nor how well you rhyme in their flow but rather
your understanding of how depressed, hungry, poor, lonely (quarantined) people
have used ropes and made excuses to buy rats’ food. People are likely to buy more
ropes for themselves than for their cows, sheep and goats in this period of
quarantine and the popular stay home slogan after realising that there exists a
strong peg in the ceiling of their rooms to carry their weights. Beware of
people who want to love rats in this period by buying ‘rat’s food. Why didn’t
they feed the rats before the quarantine?
Redundancy, social distancing
from our rumor monger squads, shrinking chances of earning for those in informal
sectors, the shutdown of bars where the problem stricken (not all are problem
stricken) temporarily quench off their thoughts, poverty and skyrocketing
commodity prices among others can prick the eyes of hope and tamper our innate
love for life.
Whereas it is a period of social
distancing, social connection such as calls, messages have never been as
important as they are in this period of the COVID19 pandemic. Whereas social
media in the wave of this health threat sculpts anxiety, the digital social
connection will help heal the anxious, the loneliness, the purchase of ropes
and buying of rat’s food because the ‘love’ for rats.
‘Experts’ may disagree by
thinking that the COVID19 crisis will pull society together and reduce
depression in the wave of economic shut down, hunger, loneliness and poverty. I
agree that this crisis has made the young and old, rich and poor, the sick and
healthy do the same thing: stay home. Togetherness may not go beyond all of us
agreeing to stay indoors amidst loneliness, poverty, unmet bills, worry,
depression, unearned wages, hunger due to surging food prices. It is more false
to think that in this environment of distant greetings, people will visit
friends including neighbours next door as often as they used to do.
Yes, this crisis brings society
together to do one same thing: stay home. This homogeneous act puts most people
alone. “Social” distancing is the right thing to do in the wake of COVID19
however, we should not forget its effects of those who depend on daily work, feed
their families on piece rate, work rate and time rate wages not unconditional salaries,
earned their entire living from the transport industry and those that struggled
with loneliness and depression even before the crisis and its social distancing
mechanism.
This period, infested with a
scary threat to human life, provides us an opportunity to be more human not
only to ourselves but to all humanity to make it more human and loving of life.
Again this period, infested by
hopelessness in some people, provides us an opportunity to be more hopeful than
ever before and give hope to the ‘disillusioned’.
This period, infested by the
strong test to faith by the COVID19 pandemic, provides us a great chance to set
a test to ourselves to be and to remain strong and faithful to God and make God
known to others.
In other words, this period, full
of lamentations of boiled down chances, gives us the chance to create more
chances for the survival of the human race.
No one can end a situation
created by COVID19 with a rope or rat’s food. Human dignity defies the minuteness
of these two or more items. Let us remain hopeful and give the hope to others
that one day we shall return to work, hug that good friend of ours, buy cheap
food again, trade across the border, cough, sneeze and sniffle in peace, walk,
ride and drive in the company of others. I thank you all.
KANSIIME ONESMUS
Our humanity adherence should be well exhibited for the good of us ourselves that carry the burden and the rest of the world. I got inspired though in wrong public view by a certain Italian nurse who committed suicide on fear to spread this virus to other people. She sacrificed her life for her fellow natives. Most people considered it a good act by this lady because she could still infect others and perhaps still die but she cut all the story short. But the worst part comes when the majority of people in Italy are not responsive to measures laid to curb down the pandemic, a reason why Italy has registered the highest number of deaths and infections.
ReplyDeleteThank you brother for taking of time to write, especially on this perturbing current situation dubbed COVID 19, you inspired me to write and I continue to write . try to look out for wasswafrank94.blogspot.com and do not hesitate to help comment for impoverishment.
ReplyDelete