In the field of aviation, graveyard spiral is a risky dive carried out by a not so proficient pilot. Others call it suicide spiral, deadly spiral, death spiral, or vicious spiral. It is likely to take place at night or during poor weather conditions when no horizon exists to provide visual correction for misleading inner-ear cues. It is the result of several sensory illusions which may occur in an actual flight or during simulation, when the pilot experiences spatial disorientation, and loses awareness of the aircraft’s attitude. The pilot loses the ability to judge the orientation of the aircraft because the brain is experiencing mixed-up spatial cues.
I am also talking about CoViD-19 in relation to our God, and how we allow it to get the better of us.
First, a little background. I was one of those who signed an online community petition which aimed to secure 3,000 signatories calling for the provincial government through Governor Degamo to place the entire Province under the Enhanced Community Quarantine. There were 2,400 signatories by the time I signed it.
The petition read: At present, the front liners in the Province of Negros Oriental are exhausted. Should there be no enhanced community quarantine, there is a greater possibility of a higher influx of cases of CoViD-19 in the Province. If that happens, we will not be able to address it. The government will collapse. Hence, it is necessary for the Provincial Government through Gov. Degamo to issue an Executive Order declaring the entire Province of Negros Oriental under an Enhanced Community Quarantine.
I was happy upon learning on March 29 that the Governor indeed issued an EO declaring the entire Province under ECQ for 14 days starting April 3.
I believe there is strong necessity for us to stay put in our homes so that CoViD-19 will not spread.
This is what I actually dreaded when I proposed to DCCCO on March 18 to suspend work for three weeks:
My dear colleagues in the Board: SUSPENDING WORK AT DCCCO A MUST! Despite the advisories that DCCCO has issued to the public with regards the CoViD-19 pandemic, we now realize these were not enough. They are not sufficient to combat the spread of the virus. Work needs to be SUSPENDED for three consecutive weeks for two big reasons: 1) Every day, DCCCO employees face hundreds of people and there is no assurance that not one from those people are carriers of the much-dreaded virus. Transacting with them every day is a HUGE RISK for our employees but we do it because we want to serve our members and the public. However, we also need to protect the health of the cooperative’s workers. To continue mingling with so many people every day, is no longer playing with chance, it is stupidity. Hence, this move to suspend work; 2) It is common knowledge that the said virus can only survive if a host is found. Therefore, if it continues to roam around within 14-21 days without finding a host, it will die a natural death. This is what we want to happen. However, if we allow the transactions to continue, we are not just allowing the dreaded virus to proliferate. We are also INTENTIONALLY endangering the lives of not just DCCCO employees but also the transacting public and all their families and friends. There is NO NEED to convene the CEO, the branch managers and other stakeholders for an emergency meeting to implement this move. All that is needed is an ORDER from the Board so that it can take effect immediately. A THREE-WEEK WORK SUSPENSION is no joke. There will be huge financial losses for the cooperative. We are ready for that. The health and lives of our workers and our members are MORE IMPORTANT than money. We need to ACT FAST. A few hours delay can mean the lives of thousands. Bear in mind that if we don’t act now and many people will be infected, there might not be any DCCCO to operate because everyone is dead! SUSPEND NOW. Later will be TOO LATE!!! (End of proposal).
Unfortunately, it wasn’t carried out, fearing it might send the wrong signal to the members of the Cooperative. Management was also thinking they didn’t want the 122,000 members to panic with massive withdrawals. The reasoning was understandable that time. So the decision to have a skeletal force and the shortening of business hours was reached.
With the Province NOW under ECQ, only a small number of people are moving around which means CoViD-19 could have a hard time finding a victim. I hope that once this virus would not be able to find a host, it will just self-destruct.
Back to the graveyard spiral. Reading so many posts and news items (many of which are unverified) about high death tolls, about people panicking, pictures of ‘ghost cities,’ photos of people ransacking groceries —can lead to confusion and mayhem. In addition are the cruel pranks of people, example of which was the surfacing of that “demon bird” video in Italy (which by the way is a hoax, the video was crafted in Nicaragua by digital experts). These things can make someone who has very little faith in God and someone who takes EVERYTHING at face value to shudder and think the world is really on the throes of an apocalypse.
While it is true that the world we know right now is degenerating, we need to look at it from a different perspective. Yes, the Bible warns people of bad things happening all at once, and I quote from Matthew 24: “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in diverse places…… All these are the beginnings of sorrows.”
This means, that while so much is happening right now, this is just the beginning. There is more to come so instead of freaking out, we need to be calm, and think and do what is right because if we allow the fear of CoViD-19 to rule over us, we will definitely go for a graveyard spiral.
We need to bear in mind that God takes no pleasure in suffering. His desire is that a crisis will generate some humility; that it will cause us to recognize our sins and to change our behavior. This is what the Apostle Peter wrote when he said, “The Lord is … not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
So as not to do a graveyard spiral, let us have faith in the One who created us. Panicking demonstrates that we are depending on what WE can do and not what GOD CAN DO for us.
Whether we are quarantined or locked down, it shouldn’t matter so much. God is with us; He will always protect us and will always provide for our needs.
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Author’s email: [email protected]
