“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom and the age of foolishness.”
The opening line of Charles Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities is as real today as it was back then.
The COVID 19 is scaring us all into foolishness, like raking up entire shelves of alcohol, groceries or, worse, toilet paper.
Of course, one would indeed get scared at the far reaching effects of this virus. True, many viruses have killed more people in the past. But we are seeing a virus which has yet no known vaccine, and whose consequences affect our entire way of life, as well as the entire world’s.
Dumaguete and Negros Oriental are infamous when it comes to COVID 19. The first confirmed case in the Philippines visited Negros Oriental. And now, the first locally-confirmed case in the Visayas is from our province.
The possibility of having more confirmed cases in our province is indeed great.
We can choose to be afraid. We are shutting down churches, we are shutting down academic institutions and even small town coffee shops. But fear is not the only response. We can also choose to face this virus with courage, resilience and optimism.
Instead of devouring everything we see in the market, perhaps we can start growing our own vegetables or raising our own chickens and livestock for food. We don’t know how long this scare will last but if we prepare early on, we will not fear any food shortage in the months to come.
At a time when social distancing is discouraged, perhaps we can reach out to our loved ones through social media and really communicate, instead of sharing posts about how the virus is scaring everyone else.
And at a time like this, every needs prayer. Pray for a cure. Pray for health. For the economy. For our country. For the world.
Together, let’s make this the best of times and an age of wisdom.