One hundred years ago you would have an excuse for a surge
in an epidemic leading to a pandemic, but today it makes no sense at all. You
can put it down to plain stupidity or ignorance on the individual/community, down
to people’s lack of adjustment to technology even in this day and age or down
to the fact that people have no patience and have adapted their lives to
coffee shops, discos, malls, partying, gatherings and beaches!
People of the past had no choice in their daily lives and
had to walk miles to find a doctor as hospitals were already at the peak with
war injuries and other infections that came with it.
Another point, it makes no sense with the internet and modern
technology facilities that we still feel the need of physical presence in work.
In the case of construction, yes maybe perhaps this is
justifiable which is why the majority of those infected are migrant workers who
have caught the coronavirus. But then if I owned a construction company, I would
have stopped work there and then, until I found an application to implement to safeguard
those who worked for me, and then as an organization I should have had the
sustainable liquidity in place in case of such disasters . I would provide them
with decent living standards, not squished sardine and dilapidated cheap
standards. And then the rest of the community wants to know why they are out
and about? Would you place yourselves and your children in a small dark room
with 10 other strangers you really know nothing about?
The coronavirus has kind of proved in such a short time
that many companies and organizations are not as solid as we thought they were.
Many organizations, had the governments not taken steps, would have fired most
of their staff within days of the virus emergence, what does that say about the
structure of these organizations and how they are run? What does it say about
their liquidity?
The only organizations I can’t blame are the restaurants
that serve buffets, but even they could have had adapted.
I blame this on the way we start startups and the advisors. Businesses
should not start unless they have a six month back up in case of any looming disaster
- not just a pandemic, it could be an earthquake or a hurricane! There should
be a backup from the beginning; you cannot make a cake without all the
ingredients and you always buy more in case the first attempt fails.
Another thing is that landlords……. Private schools…… etc etc
…. Is it better to lose tenants and students just because you don’t know what
mercy is? Aren’t we in this all together? Banks, what about the expatriates?
Why do we nationalize things so much when we are all in this together? We are
all human beings and we all suffer the same and we all have families to feed. Expatriates
are a part of our society in good times right? So why aren’t they a part in a
crisis and why aren’t they included? No matter what excuse you make, we live in
a diversified world, and like it or not, we are a global village and one hand
can never clap alone.
Another one of the worst things are “journalists” with their
unwanted “opinions” and mumbling “historians” that have nothing to do but rant about the
middle east all day and the “human rights abuses” and how much money the GCC
states have … hellooooo we are in the
middle of a crisis. We are in the middle of a Global Pandemic, and all you do
is rant and rave about so called human rights abuses run by a mafia when it
suits or you need to sway something? Have you checked what is happening in your
own backyard? And if you want to rant, rant about all the nations, because so
far we have done, admit or not, a far better job.
And a final point. There will never be a "normal" after this. Try as much as you may, this will be entrenched in our minds. Like it or not, it is clear that the coronavirus is spreading and people should have the right to choose. Allow people to decide if they wish to work remotely or if they want to come to the office. It should be their choice as at the end of the day, it's their rights to take care of their health. As long as they are doing the work, let them choose. Not force them to come to the office where they don't feel safe! When they lose their health, will you, who hired them, keep paying? No one should be forced to do something they are not comfortable with especially if it will affect their health. All the money in the world cannot buy you your health back, and we need to emerge from this with our health, not with scars.
We still really and intelligently no nothing about, despite
everyone hanging his/her PHD on their profiles, because if we really did know,
if someone really did have the knowledge, there would have been a cure in the
age of space travel, the only thing we can “cure” is turning macho into Ken and
Barbie into the barbarian.
Look back at history and search the pandemics of our past
and how long they did last but even that cannot provide answers as that era was
an era of wars, troops, colonial imperialism and had many factors contributing
to the pandemics of the time.
What we can do is to study which places were the first
to come out victorious from this pandemic and we can research to know why. In
1918, the deadliest in modern history Spanish Flu pandemic, infected 500
million people worldwide (around one third of the world’s population at the
time).
The studies found, the key to flattening the curve was social
distancing. And that likely remains true a century later, in the current
battle against coronavirus.
“[T]here is an invaluable treasure trove of useful
historical data that has only just begun to be used to inform our actions,”
Columbia University epidemiologist Stephen S. Morse wrote in an analysis of the
data. “The lessons of 1918, if well heeded, might help us to avoid repeating
the same history today.
So let’s make sure we adhere and not make mistakes as
this is not the first time and this will not be the last.
A few words from our Maker (Subhan wa Ta’ala)
“And be patient over what befalls you” Surah Luqman
“After every difficulty, Allah will soon grant relief”
Surah at-Talaq
“So be patient with gracious patience” Surah
al-Ma’arij
“Indeed Allah is with the patient” Surah al-Anfal
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