Skip to main content

World War C

This current conundrum that is the COVID-19 knocks at our doorsteps and tests our resolve as a race.  It sows fear and panic similar to that famous horror/thriller/sci-fi movie many of us know, World War Z.

It is okay to be afraid.  Fear is what has helped humanity survive the various extinction events it faced throughout the centuries.  However, it is also important to realize that excessive fear is not helpful.  It either drives us to panic, which can potentially lead to anarchy, or cause us to freeze and just ultimately drive us all to inaction.  Lack of fear on the other hand is just, well, silly and somewhat irresponsible.

The COVID-19 caused by the SARS-COV-2 strain of the coronavirus has taken us all by surprise.  It has spread across the globe faster than we could have all imagined, either through our ignorance or perhaps, even arrogance.  Whatever the case maybe, the reality is that it is here and it is wreaking havoc.  We have underestimated the virus early on because we have judged it on its ability to kill or spread when compared to the common flu or other well-known diseases that take far more lives per year.  I believe we are way past that.  The world should already stop judging this virus based on its ability to spread or kill, but rather on its ability to disrupt life as we know it.

There are numerous independent analyses of the numbers with corresponding predictions and what-not that you will see published all over the cyber space.  I too am guilty of looking at numbers and stuff and making bold predictions and all, albeit I kept them mostly to myself.  Mathematical or statistical modeling is good to enable us to predict things.  But we are now at a point where taking actions today, no matter how small, far outweighs the benefits of modelling and predicting tomorrow. Predictions always tend to look at the worst case scenario and such things help more in spreading panic.  That is just how it works -- we predict doomsday, never hope.  It is important at this point to never be eagerly optimistic nor be overly pessimistic.  I remember a passage I have read as a kid that I feel is very relevant now -- “In the eye of the storm, the pessimist complains about the wind, the optimist expects it to change, the realist adjusts the sails.”

I am very thankful that I am here in the UAE when this whole thing broke out. The leadership here is exceptional.  While the rest of the world either dismisses the issue believing it will resolve by itself or blames another country or people for the outbreak, the leaders of the UAE relentlessly monitors the outbreaks, constantly assesses its risks and continuously adjusts the sails.  Since the beginning of the outbreak, the UAE is one of the very first countries to send medical supplies to China.  Since then, and especially in the past couple of weeks, the UAE have continuously implemented various other actions to protect the UAE, its citizens and residents, and its businesses.  The declaration of early school break and the implementation of e-learning platforms to protect the young generation are some of these measures. The UAE have also issued a clarification early on that all cases of COVID-19 inside the UAE will be treated free of cost – regardless of whether the patients have insurance or not.  This kind of assurance from the government comes a long way in the midst of uncertainties.  Not all countries, even to this day (even some of the most “advanced” and “developed” ones), have done this. Then there is the phased control of borders that started with aggressive screening and detection at ports of entry up to the stoppage of new visa issuance once the pandemic broke out.  And last, but not the least, the injection of fiscal stimulus, which is amongst the largest in the world specifically allocated to combating the economic effects of COVID-19.  All these were done whilst the rest of the world bickers on who is to blame for the outbreak and while they just take to their congresses or parliaments to begin the discussions, only now, on what to do about the virus.  Let me also point out that while all these happen, the UAE still continues to fulfill its humanitarian commitments to the rest of the world as a responsible member-nation of this planet.  Never have I seen such political resolve exhibited by any country coupled with an unwavering compassion for its brothers and sisters outside its borders.

This is a shout-out to the entire UAE leadership. May you continue to be the role model on how a truly responsible government should be – a real servant of its people, unfaltering in its commitment to protect its nation’s and peoples’ interests, devoid of the paralyzing self-serving partisan politics, and a true global leader – one that is neither an optimist nor a pessimist, but a vigilant realist, fueled by hope, who never loses sight of its aspirations both for its nation and its people.

While this government does its part, we too, the citizens and residents of this nation should do our part. The government is already giving us all the information and the necessary tools to weather this storm.  Let us begin by heeding their advice and refraining from sharing unverified information.  There are sufficient information channels made available to us to make informed decisions in relation to our daily movements.  There is also an aggressive information campaign on what the government does to assure us that they are on top of the situation and that they continue to react to it in a calm and structured manner.  Let us take it and build from it so that we can help in spreading sparks of hope.

The key here for us as individuals is to find the balance between eager optimism and excessive pessimism.  The government has taken the lead in showing us how to find this balance and continually provides the necessary guidance to us all on an ongoing basis.  Let us be vigilant but live life normally, with the appropriate caution as dictated by the situation.  Living our life is what we are the experts of.  Leave all other things related to the virus to the experts in their fields -- the predictive modelling to the epidemiologists, the understanding of the behavior of virus to the virologists, the finding of the cure to the pharmacologists.  In living our own life carefully and responsibly, we will contribute to overcoming this challenge in our midst.

One may think that one person is far too small to make a difference, but situations like these remind us of the power of one.  All that is needed is just one person – “Patient Zero” moving about unchecked and you have a pandemic.  Each of us should approach this situation as that one person who believes he/she has an impact.  Every little thing we do, collectively, will make a difference.  Every single responsible isolation removes one more body out of the equation in the virus transmission formula.  Every dirham we spend to support local businesses add up to their coffers, which in turn help a lot of people keep their jobs.  Every single message of hope we share contributes to the overall well-being of every single one of us.  I know some may say that hope does virtually nothing, but hope is a placebo, and placebo is a mind-blowingly potent cure.  Maybe a little bit of hope is all we need.

What we have right here right now is a case of another World War – and I call it “World War C”.  C stands for the test on our “compliance” to government-issued guidelines and controls. C for “care” in making sure we exercise caution in our movements as well as in sharing our thoughts. C for “charity” and “compassion” for our fellow human beings, especially those who will or may struggle to make ends meet because of this. That extra dirham you give your delivery guy or your restaurant server, that “hazard pay” to thank them for continually serving us goes a long way in this trying times.  C for “common sense” because sometimes, it is just not so common anymore. And last but not the least, C for “comedy” because right now, it is really difficult to be happy about how things are around the world.  A little bit of comedy, that bit of smile on someone’s face can make a lot of difference.  Studies show that our brains are “idiotic” enough to pump out endorphins just from merely sensing our facial muscles making that “banana-like” shape with our mouths.  Endorphins boost the immune system.  A strong immune system is exactly what we need to fight this off, or any other bug (at least most of them) for that matter.

Only time will tell if the old adage, “laughter is the best medicine” is true.  But this I know is a fact, “if you laugh for no reason, you need medicine.”  Still, a little bit of laughter wouldn’t hurt anyone.

In the meantime, let us keep monitoring, let us stay vigilant, and let us all live life as normally as we possibly can.

Stay safe everyone!

Comments

What people are reading...

A lesson on parenting: Father and son tread water 15 hours overnight in the Atlantic with help from Buzz Lightyear

Father and son tread water 15 hours overnight in the Atlantic with help from Buzz Lightyear This is an inspiring story about parenting.  Time and time again, as parents we are caught up in the tide of life.  Sometimes the tide gets too overwhelming that we begin to lose faith.  Tides come in different forms, it could be stress of parenting itself or a work/financial problem, and there are those tides of real physical danger much like in the news above. If you were the parent in this news, yourself and your son - two tiny specks in an infinite pool of deep blue and dangerous waters, to see your son slowly drift away while you just stare in utter helplessness would break your spirit faster than you could blink your eye.   Most parents in the same dire situation would swim themselves to death and possibly hold on for as long as humanly possible to provide an anchor or a floater for his/her kid til help arrives.  Even ...

The Last Cab Ride

A true story by Kent Nerburn Twenty years ago, I drove a cab for a living. One time I arrived in the middle of the night for a pick up at a building that was dark except for a single light in a ground floor window. Under these circumstances, many drivers would just honk once or twice, wait a minute, then drive away. But I had seen too many impoverished people who depended on taxis as their only means of transportation. Unless a situation smelled of danger, I always went to the door. This passenger might be someone who needs my assistance, I reasoned to myself. So I walked to the door and knocked. “Just a minute,” answered a frail, elderly voice. I could hear something being dragged across the floor. After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 80′s stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940s movie. By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it ...

The Sense of Goose

by Dr. Harry Clarke Noyes  ARCS NEWS, Vol. 7, No. 1, January 1992  Next  fall, when  you see Geese  heading South for  the Winter, flying along  in V formation, you might  consider what science has dis‐  covered as to why they fly that way:  as each bird flaps its wings, it creates an  uplift for the bird immediately following. By  flying in V formation the whole flock adds at least  71% greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own.  People who share a common direction and sense of community  can get where they are going more quickly and easily  because they are traveling on the thrust of one another.  When  a goose falls  out of formation,  it suddenly feels the drag  and resistance of trying to go it alone  and quickly gets back into formation to take  advantage of the lifting power of the bird in front....

Freedom of Speech

"DE LIMA: FREEDOM OF SPEECH NOT LICENSE TO RUIN CREDIBILITY" (sic).  I could not agree more!  I would just like to understand though whether this statement is really unadulterated or is it just another attempt at bending “morality” where it is convenient. I seem to remember not long ago the same senator effectively smearing the credibility of some of her colleagues in the government and its institutions, all the while exercising her constitutional right to “Freedom of Speech.”  I have heard claims coming from this Senator about how sure she is that President Duterte is behind DDS and EJK.  In fact, she is so sure that she’s even gone to great lengths of humoring international media with interviews and clamoring for international intervention on our domestic affairs, including imposing sanctions on our nation, all because of the ongoing “government-inspired” EJK.  I have also heard her say, and she is definitely sure about it too, about DOJ fabricating lies...

History: The Battle of Bataan

These are the writings on the wall of the Dambana ng Kagitingan (Shrine of Valor) in Mt. Samat, Pilar, Bataan - a monument built to remember and to celebrate the resilience of the human spirit.  Reading through the inscriptions sent chills to my bones.  It makes me proud to be a Filipino, even more so being a Bataenyo (a native of Bataan).  Let this be a reminder to us all, of the valor and the glory of our roots.  We shall not forget...  "Our mission is to remember."   Photo by Irwin Richard Dizon The Battle of Bataan On this ground gallant men chose to die than surrender. From all corners of the Philippines they came, youthful and brave, to make their last stand in Bataan against an implacable enemy which had marched through Asia. What transpired was a ferocious combat between raw, ill-equipped recruits against seasoned, well-armed troops.

#WeArePhilippines

Recently, we have seen a lot of political disorder in the Philippines that has literally divided, and continue to divide, our nation.  Majority of the government officials, who the Filipino people have chosen to represent their best interests, have misused the trust and the authority that the people have given them to further their individual (and that of their party’s) political interest.  This observation is not only directed at one person or one political party.  Parties and individuals have been hell-bent on criticizing anyone who sits on the other side of the fence.  Privilege speeches and press conferences, under the guise of “at the interest of the Filipino people” have been used to either discredit another official or to defend a “personal attack” directed at them by a member of the opposition.  This has fueled the nation’s divide and has distracted the Filipino people’s sight away from the positive things that currently unfolds right in front of us. O...

Lesson from the Hedgehogs

It was the coldest winter ever. Many animals died because of the cold. The hedgehogs, realizing the situation, decided to group together to keep warm. This way they covered and protected themselves; but the quills of each one wounded their closest companions. After awhile, they decided to distance themselves one from the other and they began to die, alone and frozen. So they had to make a choice: either accept the quills of their companions or disappear from the Earth. Wisely, they decided to go back to being together. They learned to live with the little wounds caused by the close relationship with their companions in order to receive the heat that came from the others. This way they were able to survive.

Lost Wallet, A Great Love Story

As I walked home one freezing day, I stumbled on a wallet someone had lost in the street. I picked it up and looked inside to find some identification so I could call the owner. But the wallet contained only three dollars and a crumpled letter that looked as if it had been in there for years. The envelope was worn and the only thing that was legible on it was the return address. I started to open the letter, hoping to find some clue. Then I saw the dateline–1924. The letter had been written almost 60 years ago. It was written in a beautiful feminine handwriting on powder blue stationery with a little flower in the left-hand corner. It was a “Dear John” letter that told the recipient, whose name appeared to be Michael, that the writer could not see him anymore because her mother forbade it. Even so, she wrote that she would always love him. It was signed, Hannah. It was a beautiful letter, but there was no way except for the name Michael, that the owner could be identified. May...

Welcome to My Standpoint...

I am a Civil/Structural Engineer by education, a Quality Professional by profession, a wannabe-but-chose-not-to-be doctor, a frustrated programmer, a tech enthusiast, an avid sportsman, a hater, a lover, a friend, a son, a brother, a husband and a father. I love music, but music never really liked me -- and so does dancing. I love to write (at least I'd like to think so) but never found the time. I love to draw/paint, but again the busy everyday life took that away from me. The only things that stuck with me throughout the busy-ness of life would be my passion for Tennis, Judo, computers and just about anything that gets plugged in to an electric socket or gets powered by batteries (conventional or solar) -- children's toys included. :) Having said that, I guess I can summarily describe myself as a "Jack of trades, (and hopefully) master of some". I have always believed that knowing a little bit of everything is better than knowing everything about just one thi...

The Problem with Dandelions

A man who took great pride in his lawn found himself with a large crop of dandelions. He tried every method he knew to get rid of them. Still they plagued him. Finally he wrote to the Department of Agriculture. He enumerated all the things he had tried and closed his letter with the question: "What shall I do now?" In due course, the reply came: "We suggest you learn to love them."