Post COVID-19, We Shall Rise From The Ashes -By Bamigboye Judah

A quick perusal into history would reveal the story of the phoenix, the bird in Greek mythology which rose from the ashes of its predecessor and regenerated in power and form, stronger than ever.
The world is undoubtedly on the edge, clutching at straws for survival in her battle against the “invisible enemy” (apology to Trump), in this enervating period of social, political, and most importantly, economic lockdown.

As at 7.am, 24th of April, 2020, according to worldometer.info, a leading website providing an up-to-date account of COVID 19 infections and death, there were 2,725, 920 confirmed cases worldwide, with 191,061 deaths and 745,905 recoveries.

In order to save humanity from this ogre, governments have deployed various measures, including lockdown of most countries and regions, legislations making mandatory the use of nose covers, social distancing, etc. The picture isn’t pretty.

In all of this grim reality, the ordinary man is faced with a herculean battle for survival, an urgent need to stay alive in the face of hunger and economic doom. But we will rise again.

History is replete with deadly wars and epidemics that have ravaged our dear planet, killing millions, shutting markets, shooting up crime rates, and killing the usual pomp and pageantry that has defined bilateral and multilateral interactions among nations of the world.

The plague of Cyprian, The Justinian plague; the black death, London Plague, First cholera epidemic, Ebola fever amongst others are trying epochs which our dear planet has gone though and survived gallantly.

These are tough times. But these are also times to toughen up. Governments must begin to speak up. Leaders of every country of the world must begin to speak, encourage, motivate, pacify, mollify their fellow nationals in these times of crisis. Through daily public briefings, articulations of encouraging statements, light-hearted remarks, references to historical successes of their respective countries against past plagues, wars, and pandemics; mass bulletins and jingles to remind the citizens that they aren’t alone in this fight, we can begin to emotionally heal the minds of all global citizens beset by this scourge.

This is no time for the blame game. Every leader must put aside power-grabbing schemes or ego-tripping adventurisms and forge a common alliance towards collectively fighting Coronavirus pandemic to a standstill.

The United Nations, in the truest sense, should, at this point, be united. Virtual meetings should be held and deliberations should be held on how there can be a concerted funding to combat the virus. The world can only claim to have succeeded in this fight when all continents, countries, regions, states neighborhoods, villages, hamlets can claim to be totally free of this biting scourge.

When the phoenix is burnt to ashes, the regenerated one comes alive with greater levels of energy and enthusiasm for survival. When this is over, the stronger connections to family members must be sustained by everyone- hitherto busy husbands to their wives, wives to their husbands, landlords to tenants, etc. It is time to entrench the values of togetherness and cooperation that can define humanity in this present time of plagues and diseases.

The world must unite as one. That is how we can rise again, post COVID 19, as global citizens.

Bamigboye Judah, a global citizen wrote in via sirjudah05@gmail.com