By Rai Chowdhary
These days there is an eerie feeling across the world amidst uncertainties related to COVID-19 and when it will be under control. Some say it is here to stay for years, and countless millions across the world will be affected by it. That lock downs (or some variant of that) will last forever. Others predict its effects will die out or we will triumph over it, and 2021 will be a boom year for everyone. Yet others believe we should only focus on what can be done in the present and not worry about the future.
Learning from the past and using that to determine actions for today seems like a sensible path forward. But there are challenges to that.
Yet another illusion
What I am going to share with you now might be startling for some, so brace yourself.
Hardly anything is truly what it appears to be. What you are reading at this time – is in reality – a play of electrons on the screen created from the keystrokes I am using, which flow based on my thoughts. The shape of letters, and the words they make, are linked to English language and your comprehension of these is based on the database in our minds.
Further, your eyes actually see the words upside down, but your mental software makes them appear right side up. To those who cannot decipher English, these words are just marks on the screen, or on paper. So – there is more behind whatever you see / hear / learn. Much of that you cannot see.
How does this relate to Corona and what is real?
Well – what is Corona? It is the name of a flu like virus that occurs in nature. What is a virus after all? Is it alive, or just some material? The debate on the latter goes on…
Viruses are the most abundant biological entity and are found in just about every ecosystem on the planet. They are made of molecules of nucleic acids (RNA, DNA) encapsulated in a protein coat. In simple terms – RNA helps carry out the DNA’s blueprint guidelines, and there are multiple types of RNA. Digging further will take us into their structure (DNA is a double helix, where as RNA is a single helix), and elemental composition, etc….
Your senses cannot “see” or “detect” a virus. To see it, you need a powerful microscope. Under that, viruses appear as particles of different shapes and sizes with spikes as you see in the image above. You cannot smell or hear them, but only “feel” the effects of the battle that ensues between your immune system and the virus.
For those with relatively weaker immune systems – the effects are severe. Moreover, high viral loads can be hard to deal with even if you are healthy. Not everyone is affected in the same way, i.e. the reality of the effect of exposure is relative.
This means it is natural to have differences between one person’s reality vs. another’s. Therefore, treating the whole population with one kind of approach makes little sense; the bigger question is whether doing so sows the seeds of conflict. The implications are far reaching and not insignificant.
Conflict – is it natural?
Look around in nature – every species acts to self preserve, grow, and multiply – starting from the simple single cell amoeba all the way to humans. This also holds for members within a given species. It is natural for a virus to do the same. However, a virus needs a host – and that can be a human or another species. Conflict starts when one species does the above actions at the expense of another – by design or by chance.
Blaming the virus for “attacking” us is misplaced; it is doing what it is meant to do. Prior to making humans as its host, Corona lived comfortably within certain animal species; we decided to add them to our lives, in some cases to the food chain. Now Corona and we humans will have to co-exist; that is the new reality.
A new concern now is if we as the human species can handle the situation without tearing each other apart using deceit, concealment of truth, and engaging in blame game. Personally, at this time I am cautiously sanguine about the ability of humans to stay united and get along with each other peacefully. However the path ahead will require us to build trust, openness, treat each other with respect and fairness. It can be done…don’t you think so?
Rai Chowdhary
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