COVID-19 Thoughts

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is easy to fall prey to mass hysteria. I think that’s the pandemic, the emotional turmoil, and irrational responses to the virus. I believe in taking precautions, but buying unnecessary things in reaction to a situation is not a good thing.

These are the best and the worst of times. The worst times because everything is getting canceled, weddings, reunions, birthdays, naming ceremonies, fundraisers.. everything. Also, the uncertainty of it all can be daunting. We do not know what will happen next, who will survive, and what will be lost.

However, I do believe that some good will come out of this. For one, people will stop placing treats on just any surface… I remember being stunned when I saw more than one person put a cookie on a table in a classroom we had just gotten into with nothing underneath! I find it interesting that people don’t wash their hand before they eat things.. and to be honest I started feeling like a weirdo and relaxed some of the rules of hygiene that have been ingrained in me. My usual practice is to take treats home wrapped in foil or tissue. That way I wouldn’t touch whatever it was with my unwashed fingers on its way to my mouth.

This is also a great time for relationships to be strengthened, meditation to occur, and for positibe changes in terms of routine and quality of life.

My question then is: how are you reacting to all this?

I tell my students that exam/finals season is a great time to be aware and alert. There is a lot of anxiety in the library, hallways, and exam rooms that they can feed off from, which could make them more stressed and anxious. . THEY CAN AVOID THIS STRESS, IF THEY ARE WELL RESTED AND PREPARED.

I strongly believe that God has a plan in all this. He wants us to realize somethings and so far what I have been impressed upon are the following:

1. Evaluation/Awareness: A lot of people had new year resolutions but I have doubts about whether people gauged their core values. Did you evaluate yourself, your priorities, principles, and stances concerning occurrences/policies in the world. I think this is a time to evaluate our attitudes towards trends, events and practices in the world. We all neeed to comtemplate the question: Is the world becoming less humane or humanitarian?
2. Prayer: I think God wants us to speak to him, as a child to a father. As people who trust that God is in control, we need to remember that in time like this he wants to talk to us, walk us through the moment, he wants our attention! (2 Chron 7:14)
3. Communion/fellowship: human interaction is a crucial part of humanity for a reason. We learn how to interact with God through our relationship with others. He shows us elements of who he is through the bits of himself he has deposited in other people. How come we have begun to despise spending time with other people? We are losing valuable connections, conversations, and learning opportunities because of our TVs, Netflix, and the internet.
4. Rest: The world has been moving along fast and the concept of rest has become solely associated with sleep. When I was growing up, a verse that stuck to me was Palm 63 especially verse 6. I think true rest is when you meditate on who God is and how powerful he is, which makes cares and worries inconsequential. We all need to learn what true rest is.
5. Confidence, calm, patience….: there was a time when people and communities celebrated virtues. Conversations about virtues and vices were considered important. These days material wealth, investments, career, possessions, and achievements rule conversations. This is a period when we can focus on the essence of people not based on their appearance in public or material exhibitions.

Thank you for reading this piece. I appreciate the time taken to do so. Till next week!