Do Not Panic

By Basia Alicia Powell

I have been very silent for the past two weeks, on my blog. Like most of you, I have been trying to figure things out. Believe you me, I have had a lot to figure out. From putting things in place to make sure my parents are fine overseas, to making sure my kids adjust to home schooling and quarantine, to trying to figure out how to prepare for the impact it will have on the economy. It is a lot to digest all at once.

It is normal to panic during this time. The visuals of people losing their lives around the world, cannot be easy.The number of deaths taking place world wide keeps increasing. Everything is at a stand still. Suddenly what we all thought was so important to be done, has become unimportant. Our priority lists has been turned upside down.

We are all fighting for survival and our guns and other weapons cannot help us. Many people who are not displaying symptoms,who are lucky enough to be healthy, are anxious about their bills and their economic future. Well, we have to simply be grateful to be alive. You either die with your debt or live with your debt. You have two choices. What will it be.We have to take this situation one day at a time, and just remain grateful.

Caronavirus crisis has equalized the playing field. Whether you are a “prince or a pauper”, you are susceptible to this deadly disease. We are all being forced to run for shelter, and being ordered to stay inside. Sadly, in many cases, “we can run, but we can’t hide.” In the United States, the medical experts are predicting that things are likely to get a lot worse before they get better.

The current pandemic has forced many of us, to do a lot of reflecting. No one saw this coming. (Actually Bill Gates warned us in 2015 anyways…). Nevertheless, we have to ask ourselves honest questions. How frequently did we check on all our loved ones, prior to Caronavirus? Did we appreciate a hug, our jobs, and our health, when our lives weren’t threatened? What were we focusing on? Suddenly, we are all at risk, regardless of race, color, creed or class. The virus is not racial, or socially prejudiced, it operates with radical and absolute equality.

If we are all fortunate enough to live through this; how would this change our perspective? How are we going to change humanity? Are we going to continue to focus on the things and events that only affect our mortality or our family’s? Suddenly all lives are threatened by a deadly disease, not just a few. This is not cancer, diabetes, heart disease or HIV. It is a virus that can wipe out the human race if we don’t act swiftly.

This virus has both first world and third world countries on their knees. In fact, the medical staff and governments in many underdeveloped nations like Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica have handled this pandemic much better than many first world countries. I have a renewed respect for nurses, doctors, police officers, bankers, people constructing temporary hospitals, and everyone on the frontline who are fighting this battle on our behalf, while we get to take refuge in the comfort of our homes (and some are complaining).

After all is said and done we have to come back stronger from this experience. We must emerge better as a human race. It does not matter where we live. What matters is how we live, from here on, if we are lucky enough to survive. We cannot allow caronavirus to take away our tenacity, our faith and our ability to love, to be kind. Most of all, remember not to panic, just pray and be your neighbor’s keeper.