History is a funny thing. It is a representation of the events that happened as according to the ones who lasted longer. Not a single event that I’ve read about from my school days has remained the fact, as it was depicted. Be it the giant leap for mankind of a moon landing, be it the glorified reign of kings, be it about the over positive image of industrial revolutions and the romanticism of renaissance – every single one of them have been torn to shreds with alternate view points on the rise. In fact, majority of those view points makes so much sense that makes one wonder, how long will the subject called history will remain in school syllabus, for every single change of power at the center, the frequency of dilly dallying about the past history increases at a rapid rate. Not quite sure if it would still be the same, but from my school days, whatever was described as world war 1 and world war 2 were increasingly being reminded of nothing but, family quarrel between couple of neighborly countries in the former and maniacal greed of few mad men over land grab resulting in latter. Neither of the wars involved any more than a handful of countries, but the impacts were nevertheless felt across the world.
If you take a look at those situations, In all of those times, people movements were restricted, economies crumbled, paucity of medical resources was very prevalent, doctors had a tough time fending off the wolf of death from the doors of many a patient, everyone were looked at with suspicion either as a spy or as a villain. Food became scarce and even the meagerly available rationed ones were often unpalatable. There were serpentine queues for everything and mob violence, looting ruled roost in places where the demand far exceeded the supply. Add the word corona and if you read this paragraph, it all relates to the present situation to a perfect T. People of same state view each other with suspicion. Any neighbor having a cough or cold in all probability would be complained about to the police. Lockdown, travel restriction, food shortage, migrant population dying jobless, unemployment, factories being shut down and people high up at the ivory tower, waging their own stupid wars, trying to take the view away from situation on ground. And of all the wars put together, the fatality count of this pandemic has over shot everyone of them. With almost 10 million people infected and nearly half a million dead already, with not a single one of the 200 odd countries of the world spared, if this is not a world war situation, what else can it be classified as?!!
Sapiens book spoke about how there are no major wars and we are possibly living in the golden generation. With education of every student across every stream from KG to PG disturbed, this war in a way has already altered the course of near future and possibly upcoming as well, in the way of uprooting the present form of education and wiping the slate clean to pave way for new modes of learning. Health is wealth has been branded on the minds and psyche of every individual. Faces sans Masks could be a rarity in near future and personal hygiene is at an all time high level of awareness and adoption.
Every war has a winner and a loser. In this war, we all are fighting against something which is invisible and possibly all those alien invasion scenarios are happening in real time at present. The only recommended way to overcome the present situation has been for all of us to stay at home and keep clean. But that gives everyone something which they never realized in first place, in abundance – Time. Time to spend with family, like it or not. Time to think about self, without a choice. Time to reinvent new ways of learning, for the sake of future.
Like every single instance of the past, certain people, who get to make full use of this wealth at hand, often end up shaping the course of the entire generation of humans. The spurt of inventions and discoveries during and after the wars were nothing short of miracle. Quite sure, we will witness a new normal, a new way of living, a new way of learning and quite literally new way of surviving. It may not just be for the fittest, but also for the smartest as well, those who know how to handle the time on hand to the best of their abilities.
But make no mistake in your assumption, we definitely are at war. The one which is fought mainly within.
Comments
Per capita deaths in wars is many times what has happened with Corona. Human misery that wars evoke are on a different scale altogther.
Yes, Coronoa has been bad. But is it really that catastrophic as what we have whipped ourselves to believe ? No. The medical consequences are there, but it is by no means the most serious risk for us. I am far more scared of cancer than of corona. The real reason why corona has spooked us so much that it is incredibly contagious in such a short span of time.
Even economically, the impact is relatively muted and over time, we will all adapt. War is very different. There can be nothing even remotely as evil as war. Just ask the Iraqi or the Syrian or the Afghan.
And so, to those who are beating the war drums over China. Stop for a moment and think of the consequences .....