Is there a takeaway from the coronavirus, one which has left the world grasping for its breath, one which has caused a debacle in our growth? Yes of course there is. We were, and continue to be woefully unprepared for such a situation.
They say we should learn from our mistakes. Yet it is only a matter of saying. When it actually comes to execution, we are useless.
The coronavirus is nothing new. We have been at the mercy of things microscopic since a long time, the most recent being the SARS. Instead of learning from our mistakes, for which we had a whopping 17 years, we have been caught unawares and are faced with one of the biggest crises of the century. Such is the terror of the virus that even the ISIS has stopped its operations, even though this would be a perfect time for attacks as most of the world is busy dealing with Covid-19. Many countries are now dealing with whether to save their economy, which is headed down the drain, or save their citizens.
Unfortunately, we would not be bent over backwards if we had swallowed our pride and actually learnt from our past mistakes. We continued to rant that we are an advanced species, capable of producing weapons which can cause the death of millions but can also harness the energy of the sun; but, a single virus has caused more damage than these weapons have.
Had we paid more attention during history class we would have learnt that if the world had had better safeguards in place than we would not be facing such a calamity. Had we been more humble, we would have had the foresight that we are not invincible and that our lifestyles have made our bodies considerably weaker, making us more prone to infections and viruses. Instead we continued to argue, fight, heckle with one another while the virus spreads, unchecked. Even now, we do not lift a finger. Our leaders of state continue to play the blame game; instead of putting aside their differences for once and coordinating on vaccine research, they seek to find the culprit. They demand billions in damages but would have saved more or less the same amount had they focused on curing it instead of figuring out who “manufactured” it.
