It’s funny how such micro creatures have brought the entire world with its satellites, science and missiles to its knees. I know, I know it’s a cliché but we live in a land of clichés. “The Earth is cleansing itself” “We are the virus” and other redundant and apathetic things that we have hurled at ourselves. I mean whatever happened to being empathetic and nice. I bet people who say these things are exactly the ones who are sipping their margaritas with a plastic straw in their Mercedes.
Yes, the Corona Virus is highly contagious and is killing people faster than we blink an eye. This makes it more important for all of us to practice social distancing and adhering to the guidelines given by the Government. In the view of the declared lockdown, the cities and towns have come to a halt. Shops closed, restaurants shut, roads and streets eerily quite like never before. Because of the declared shutdown and the resulting consequences, it’s unimaginable how people living on the margins are managing their lives. We are reveling in a privilege, but they are not. The stress and anxiety levels are building up in people across the economic strata. The idea of what the near future holds, the looming dangers on businesses, academics, economy and so on and so forth has made people worried and it’s visible on their faces. Even pets are confused of what to do with the owners now that they are spending 24 hours in home.
But enough of the gloomy side, let’s look at the brighter side. The lockdown has given us all time. Time to breathe, to think and perhaps just lay on bed in any position you like. This is the time when the privileged society must reflect on their actions. How kind we are? How giving and forgiving we are? How accommodative and inclusive we are. This is the time that we all must utilize to take long breaths, hydrate ourselves and become more self-aware and aware about the society in which we operate in and its imbalances. While, we are at it, we must also look at how we can make it less imbalanced.
Globalisation has both its advantages and disadvantages. As Peter Thiel says, in his book Zero to One- How to build the future. “Globalization without new technology is unsustainable. Without technological change, if china doubles it’s energy production, it will also double its air pollution.” Hence, there is an urgent need for us to embrace the digital transformation. This is the time for us to connect digital, work from home is now a reality and we need to embrace it. The sudden increase in the userbase of Zoom, a video calling app, people using watch party, having online facebook live music concerts is a step in the right direction.
Lockdown was a blessing for me to discover the writer in me. It gave me the time to complete my book and release it all over the world through Amazon self publishing.
What did you always want to do but didn’t have the time to do?
Not to sound too preach-y or a lecturer but the takeaway would be to stay in quarantine, reflect and be the new Digital YOU!
