The invisible enemy

"I am a flower quickly fading, here today and gone tomorrow, a wave tossed in the ocean, a vapor in the wind."

Never have I felt uncertainty and fleetingness of life than these past few days. Just like most of us, I wonder. I am baffled and beyond scared as to when this will end. Sometimes, I wish all that is happening in the world is just a dream. But no, it is reality unfolding right in my very eye. And being far from home somehow even makes me more frantic. But I know that I must not allow fear and paranoia to rule over me.

Instead, the past few days have been days of realizations. In times like this, what else is more valuable? Life, good health, togetherness with your family, all those are what I hold more precious and dear now. All of a sudden, I forgot my yearnings for worldly possessions, not because I don't want them, but because I know at the end, it is not what will truly count.

In as much as we want to plan things out now, the world seems to be unstable. What lies in the next months, no one actually knows. We lie in bed, not knowing how many lives will be lost. We wake up and we can never tell if one day, we will be reduced to a mere figure or statistics. Despite venturing into the unknown, we hold on to that glimmer of hope and faith, that one day, if we keep in praying and helping one another, our lives will be back to normal again.

And just like you, I can't wait for that day to come, too. How good it will be to finally see my students again and be lost in their chatter and noise. I long for the day when we can talk to our friends somewhere else, in the park, at the mall, without apprehensions, reservations and fear of getting contaminated by the virus elsewhere. I pray that the day will come when we can finally feel the warmth of the sun or the coolness of the outdoors. Oh these things which used to be normal or maybe trivial are now the very things we miss.

As long as we keep fighting a good fight, there is no battle we cannot win. More than ever, this is the time for our country and the world to be united in overcoming this invisible enemy. In doing so, it is with hope that we set our ego, pride and selfishness aside and just let love, compassion and altruism reign. Time and again has proven that miracles do happen if we work together. And what better time to see another miracle unfolding in everyone's lives than now?

#weareallinthistogether #fightingCovid19