Corona Virus revealing the frailness of mankind

A GNA Feature by Hannah Awadzi

Accra, March. 16, GNA - The world has been taken by a “storm” by Corona Virus, a virus that exhibits flu symptoms and is killing human beings in droves.

People are scared, there is a lot of panic and fear all over the world, Ghana, not an exception, but the virus has revealed how frail a human being is.

The trends

It is showing us human nature and how frail they can be.

To me, Corona Virus is no respecter of persons, and humans can only be saved by frequent handwashing with soap and water, regular and frequent use of alcohol based hand sanitizers, maintaining a level of social distance that means limiting social gatherings, among others.

The way people are dying through the disease is revealing that life is really short, tomorrow is not guaranteed, anything is possible, either negative or positive and it can change one’s life in a split of a second, the more reason why human beings need to be kind to one another and share more love

I smiled at a post I saw on Facebook in the wake of this Corona virus scare, while people were dreading a lockdown or people being quarantined for suspected cases, someone suspected to be a parent of a child with Autism posted “For us being isolated is normal”

I smiled at this post, even though it revealed how unfair the world was to children with Autism, cerebral palsy or other disabilities, especially Ghanaian society that did not seem to pay attention to such issues.

My Opinion

It tells us that much as we dread being isolated, there are people who by reason of disability or a particular condition are being isolated. They are punished by society for what they have no hand in, moving forward, I hope that we will take practical steps to have an Inclusive society and Inclusive Development where no one is left behind

You see, Corona virus has proven that disease or sicknesses is no respecter of persons, the more reason we need to strengthen our healthcare system and make it more efficient and friendly especially for persons with disabilities and persons who are affected by rare diseases.

President’s directives

It also makes me know that one man’s issue should concern me no matter the distance between us, it is a global village, when the Corona Virus started, I felt there was too much hype in our media, I was thinking why we don’t pay attention to other equally important issues affecting our kith and kin and little did I know that a close relative of mine would have his wedding postponed following the President’s directive to avoid social gathering for the next four weeks due to Corona Virus.

No man is an island, if it concerns another, it must concern you for you never know. We as human beings are interconnected in many ways and we should not disregard that.

I marvelled at the love of money, we demonstrated as a society and in fact as mankind in the face of corona virus, which brings us closer to death should we ever get infected.

Hand Sanitizers

When people started looking for hand sanitizers, there were people who hoarded “Common” hand sanitizer to be sold at exorbitant prices.

Small bottle hand sanitizers are now selling between GHC 40 and GHC80, someone’s response when this was shared on a whatsapp platform was “like seriously… how wicked”

Opportunities

Yes there is a silver lining in every cloud, yes even in the face of death, business opportunities exist and some will make money and become rich out of it.

Again it gives us the opportunity to start manufacturing our own hand sanitizers.

It reveals that there is always someone who benefits from someone’s vulnerability, we possibly may never be all equal, and the Akan proverb puts in this way “Nsa tea Nyinaa ny3 p3” to wit all fingers are not equal.

To me it also teaches me contentment and the need to strive to do better for myself even in the face of difficulties.

I think the message of keeping good hygiene has gone down well thanks to our media, especially radio and TV stations.  Over the weekend, I attended the birthday party of a 90 year old man, which was attended by a lot of the old folks.

I observed that people did not shake hands, they used their elbows to touch amidst giggling, I smiled anytime, I spotted that kind of greeting.

The role of the media

However, I think the media should also give attention to other equally important issues, yes, Corona Virus is important but may we not neglect the other equally important issues that people need to know

I also think it is revealing how low our trust for Authority is, when the Ministry of Health announced that Ghana had two positive cases of Corona Virus, people doubted, some said, it was because politicians wanted to squander the GHC 100 million announced by the President for this purpose.

How low is our trust, do we think that there is not a single good person as a politician, do we really think that all politicians want is to spend state money? I think we need to rethink how we see politicians, at all cost, there will be politicians, and the earlier we think positive of them, the better.

I am not saying there are no evil politicians, but hey there are evil doctors, nurses, teachers, journalists etc, corruption is not limited to the politicians.

Again it reveals the need for home grown solutions to challenges, I questioned when people were suggesting a lockdown, are people asking for a lockdown because other countries are doing it? Is a lockdown going to be the easiest option for us? I am wondering how it will be when suddenly we are told stay indoors, don’t go out, market women should not sell etc, how will it be?

What about our markets?

Good move by the President to suspend social gatherings and close down schools, however, on my mind is our markets and how they are structured, our public transport systems etc, perhaps a good time to rethink how we structure such public systems with some level of sanity

Yes, it is important to limit social contacts because the more contacts we have the more likely the disease can spread, but perhaps we should consider our own way of doing this more effectively.

Corona Virus is changing our cultural dynamics, diversity is the key word, we can always adapt.

I used a toll booth daily and the presence of the toll collectors wearing nose mask and hand gloves alone, reminds me that there is something happening in the world which calls for hygiene.

I hope that the Corona Virus will go away quickly, but I hope it will leave behind the practices of hygiene and sanity which it came along with.

May God be with us all!

GNA

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