Hope: We are in this together!

“What’s the best thing you’ve learned about storms”, asked the Boy.

“That they end”, answered the Horse.

(Excerpt from The Boy, The Mole, The Fox And The Horse, Charlie Mackesy, 2019)

If we thought 2020 was dreadful and that 2021 would take us back to how we led our lives, unfortunately we were wrong. By now we all could agree that 2021 is way worse, and the second wave of the global pandemic has hit a new high. While some call it a ‘wave’, some argue it is rather a ‘Tsunami’.

All these dashboards and news reports that fill us up with the number of positive cases per day, number of deaths per day and several such statistics must be all too exhausting for a common eye. It is at times like these, we can’t help but revere the struggles put forth by the front-line workers, risking their lives, not just carrying out their profession but exhibiting incalculable passion to service.

It is argued that Technology has been a boon and bane at these times. Information flows at a whirlwind speed, mis-information flows faster. Each day seems to bring worse news than the previous day. The fear, anxiety and uncertainty surrounding the pandemic and the way it impacts our daily lives can be overwhelming. We have come to a point where we’ve almost forgotten how life was during the pre-pandemic times.

Yet, even in the most tragedies there are reasons for hope. At a time where even the perpetual optimists find it difficult to see the positives, we think there are few reasons for Hope:

-Almost 98.88% of people infected with the virus have recovered. If you know of someone who is infected with the virus right now, it is highly important to provide them with hope that they would recover.

-Testing and Vaccination is finding its way to all the corners of the world. Compared to the uncertainty that prevailed in 2020, we now know how to tackle this through severe Testing and Vaccinations. Several Governments, NGOs, Service Organizations are working tirelessly and selflessly to reach as many lives as possible.

-Healthcare administrations have taken advantage of the times we live in and have been utilizing Technology for Tracking, Infection screening etc.

-The greatest minds in Medical Research and Humanities, across the world, are fanatically at work to combat our common enemy. Right now as you are reading this, a social scientist is drafting a policy, a medical researcher is waiting for an experiment to succeed, and so on. These works under progress provide us with brighter rays of hope.

-Telehealth has emerged as an effective and sustainable solution to curtail the spread of COVID-19. Many chronic patients have scheduled Teleconsultations from home, helping patients minimize risks of exposure to the virus.

This may not be an exhaustive list, but it is slightly indicative of the hope we can have. Now imagine the pandemic had hit us ten or fifteen years before, from now. The way we utilize Technology in the field of Medicine, Employment, our connectivity with people who are far from us would have not been this easy, thereby subsiding the otherwise major impact it would have had on us.

It is understandable that it may seem, that these hassles and suffering are never ending. The second wave arriving at a time, when we were all pumped up about getting back to how we were, may be severely discouraging. This storm can be exhausting, overwhelming and at times seem doomsday-like.

Yet hold on! Let’s fight this. Remember that all of us are in this together!

When this ends, and it will, we will be embracing and shaking hands. Till then, hang in there world!

“What’s the best thing you’ve learned about storms”, asked the Boy.

“That they end”, answered the Horse.