Kill it with Kindness

Everything has changed.
The way we greet one another. The way we travel. The way we work.
The Internet is the new meeting room. Home is the new office. Suddenly, we
are removed from our hectic schedules and placed in sort of limbo, with one
question on our minds incessantly, when will this end?

Who knew that the start of the third decade will become a roller-coaster ride in
the first few months. We cannot carelessly work, travel, party or even buy
groceries! When WHO announced that Covid-19 was a pandemic, we certainly
did not believe that a virus could bring the entire world on a standstill.

Some may say the human race had it coming. All the pollution, the
industrialization, global warming, the work-till-you-drop attitude and the
urge to be productive every minute for our day was taking its toll, not only on
us, but also on the planet we live in.

Needlessly to say, we find ourselves with abundant time on our hands with
letting the fact sink in that this virus is always going to be with us. The
“normal” life is gone. Poof! The human race, despite the advances made in
every sphere of life, is facing an existential crisis.
Everything but the human is okay. This has not affected animals, plants, birds
or any living creature. Is this nature’s way of telling us that we are not welcome
to live here until we take care of the resources available to us?

Covid-19 has disrupted our lives and is asking us the question, “What are you
doing with your lives?” It is almost as a mirror which is making us self-reflect,
are we really going in the right direction?

In a little over 50 days of the lockdown we are in, we have seen hundreds of
photographs of the nature healing itself. The skies are bluer, we wake up to the
chirping of birds, the sunsets look more exotic. The pollution levels have
decreased by 50 per cent! Our social media is filled with people cooking in their
homes, spending time with their families, reading more, painting more, writing
more. It’s almost as if we all are in for a cleansing of the soul.
This makes one wonder that this time is not that bad.

This is not for everyone though; the healthcare workers go to their jobs every
day and take care of those who are suffering from this disease. We’ve seen the
recent incidents of inhumanity against doctors, chased away, pelted with stones
yet they don’t give up. They risk their lives to save the people sitting in their
homes and complaining about getting bored. The least we can do is to reduce
the burden by staying safe in our homes. Kindness towards our fellow human
beings is how we can help each other through this crisis.

Let’s utilize this time and focus on the bigger picture, how should we help in
shaping the world in a better way? What kind of environment do want our
future generations to live in? The one where there’s no respect for a human or
the one where kindness works miracles.

It should not take a pandemic to make us realize the fact that little things matter.
Call up that relative, chat with a long-lost friend, put across the message that we
are all in this together!

‘Compassion binds us to one another – not in pity or patronisingly, but as
human beings who have learnt how to turn our common suffering into hope for
the future.’
Nelson Mandela

By Preeyati Chopra