Hello Everyone,
An uninvited guest recently interfered in our lives, and it changed everything around the world. The world we knew doesn’t exist anymore.
How did it all start?
First, it has stopped us from using our most powerful social greeting method: the handshake. Second, it has compelled us to wash our hands every single time we use them. It has forbidden us from touching anything or kissing our fellow humans. It has disrupted our daily lives, stopped human gatherings, and collapsed our share markets. Also, it has grounded all forms of public transport, including the mighty cruise ships. It has even forced us to cover our beautiful faces with N95 masks. Finally, it has forced us to self-isolate and stay in our bubbles. The saddest thing for me it has also closed the local Gym I visit, a heartbreaking loss :-). However, for some people, they have had to fight for their toilet paper at the local supermarkets, an even more difficult situation :-).
It has also changed the way our tax systems work. For instance, in New Zealand, 31st March usually means the end of the financial year. That means it is time to organize payments to the taxman in the coming months. However, after this uninvited guest interfered in our lives, the tax department started paying money to some people and businesses for the very first time :-).
The uninvited guest, the Coronavirus, COVID-19, has ruined all our plans. It doesn’t care about our religion, geolocation, race, nationality, or political affiliation. Before this, many people acted as if we humans are the powerful creatures in this world. Others had confidence that their religions would save from uninvited guests like this. The truth of the matter is we are delicate creatures, and we don’t have full control of many things in this world. The Coronavirus is a tiny, tiny microbiome. In fact, it is not even a living organism, yet it can turn our world upside down. They are like uninvited, violent guests, or hostile intruders coming into our home. They do not ask for our permission. Once they are inside, they interfere with and hijack our lives. Viruses, including the SARS-CoV-2(the COVID-19 virus), seize on and invade living cells to reproduce more viruses. They then turn our bodies into a virus factory. Finally, they tear us apart and destroy our healthy organs and even kill us.
The good news is that we humans have brains, and we have invented science. Science teaches us the limitations of viruses:
They are not a complete living organism, but genetic material made of nucleic acid
They cannot move
They have no ability for metabolism (life-sustaining chemical reactions)
They are unable to make copies of themselves without a host cell
They can be controlled by vaccines and antiviral medicines. However, we still need to develop these for COVID-19.
In conclusion, viruses are like uninvited, violent guests, or hostile intruders coming into our home. Would you let that happen to you or your family members, friends, or your community? If your answer is "No," then listen to the medical experts and to the science and follow the guidelines. No magic or dogma will work against Coronavirus.
We are going through a change, a pandemic, caused by the uninvited guest's interference in our lives, and we need to adapt to this change. It’s lucky that we can stay home and we invented Zoom and Teams for our virtual meetings!
As Charles Darwin pointed out, "It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change."
Therefore, I will look forward to your handshakes after the vaccine has been developed 😀.
Take care, everyone!
Aneesh Varghese
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