Fireflies-these tiny little insects have intrigued me since childhood especially when I run after them. The idea of a firefly glowing in the dark has positivity to it. Have you ever wondered how they work or hve you observed the phenomenon of fireflies glowing?
“Be like a firefly, Be like that little torchbearer firefly who guides you on way out from darkness” –Aiman Tahir Laghari
It seems these beauties glow in the dark as if guiding you without expecting something in return. That may sound philosophical to you — but, hey, it’s 2021 — and we are surviving a pandemic — we can be philosophical if we want to. The firefly makes me think of the ideas of Empathy, Kindness and Selflessness — which all of us need more than ever after the pandemic.
When we started in to the year 2020 — none of us expected the onslaught of the pandemic, or what it would mean to the entire world. What we were learning felt like a scene from a science-fiction movie — that the world had Halted. At least, I never thought that one day, I would wake up to a complete lockdown.
Coronavirus pandemic was like a “fear of the unknown” where not only thousands have lost a beloved family member or friend — but so many of us even lost our sole way of earning a living.
Fighting a battle of survival from an unseen novel coronavirus has been really tough on all of humanity.
To me the pandemic seemed like time had stopped and I couldn’t help but realize that we humans really take everything for granted, be it any emotion, someone’s effort or just life in general.
PANDEMIC without a doubt came upon with many life lessons. Just like every cloud has a silver lining to it (though I hate that phrase), so does a pandemic. If you want to know how pandemic has impacted us and what has it taught us then Read on.
Things You’ll Want to Take Away from the Pandemic
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Not All Heroes Wear Capes
Yes, I would be starting firstly from this particular thing as without a doubt not all heroes wear capes. They can be just any human around you and that’s what pandemic has proved. First of all, the healthcare workers, who put their lives on the line to provide healthcare services to all those who were affected by the virus.
Putting aside their families and life, they are still working more than ever. Some people might argue that it’s their job anyway — or maybe their duty. But, just stop and think for a second, consider yourself in their shoes and think what they are doing even knowing they could lose their life — yeah, it takes huge courage.
Many in the medical fied have lost their colleagues right in front of their eyes, yet are firm to fight within the borders of their jobs and continue with it. These thoughts made me think about gaining a new definition of heroes, and I hope you will too.
What About Tech? We Can Thank Tech for Keeping Us Afloat During the Pandemic.
Let’s not forget all the tech and IT engineers here as well, who worked day and night to create software to connect doctors and patients remotely. Apart from the coronavirus affected people there were other patients of various illnesses including cancer needing dire attention too. Telehealth did play a significant role in current times as well.
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Story of All – A Collective Narrative
We all, no matter where we live on the earth or which race, religion, ethnicity, gender, colour, age or caste we belong to, we all have been affected by this pandemic either directly or indirectly. So, for the first time, we all can completely relate it with each other and be nothing but Kind.
It was and still is a nightmare, but the promising work and delivery of the vaccines and research are giving hope to humanity. Everyone is working towards one aim e.g., to find the cure as soon as possible to eradicate the coronavirus — or at least we see the world working quickly — together — to keep the vaccines rolling out.
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Future is not Divided but United
The buzzwords of liability and vulnerability have always been in work management. But, the outbreak of the coronavirus has proved that those words are hardly even correct, let alone concrete anymore.
As per the United Nations, approximately 25 million people all over the world are expected to lose their jobs. Everyone is going to be affected by this pandemic that includes an unemployed, low-income employee or high self-employed individuals.
Current times have shown how vulnerable we humans are, in fact, more than ever.
Considering this digitalized era, the one thing is now more clear than ever that social society net is now widening and in future work would be inclusive of all types of workers. Sanitization staff, food and safety staff, young engineers, scientific researchers and the digital healthcare providers were among the first ones to react to the pandemic.
So, in my opinion, once the pandemic is over, it will definitely widen our mutual solidarity and kinship which will allow everyone to work together for a particular cause — if we will? Will YOU?
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Empathy, Kindness and Love Can Win
Empathy and Kindness go hand in hand. In this digital era, where we all are prone to various forms of bullying or harassment or simply negativity, the lockdown and pandemic proved that we need to break this curse.
On one hand, the pandemic had taken lives, it also allowed the best to come out of us, as humans, too. We need each other — we need connectivity
The young generation of my country has volunteered a lot amidst pandemic. From volunteering to provide rations to the people in amidst of lockdown to blood donations and volunteering online to provide psychological help the best we can.
Frontline healthcare providers are still working hard to help the country. Everyone in all countries are trying to play their part and focus best efforts on saving lives. In my country and other countries we have seen people who were cured of COVID-19 donated their plasma as well.
Online Groups
Instead of sitting idly, some youngsters even formed online groups on Facebook and other social channels in connecting everyone who needed any kind of help. The social stigma around mental health has finally made a positive turn as well. We see many free online counselling sessions for stress management — a great beginning.
Teachers
Not only this, the teachers who loved communicating and physically delivering lectures have put their best efforts forward to learn the technology and use it for the betterment of their students.
To me — the extra dedication of our teachers is a tremendous show of true empathy and kindness.
For the last year — the pandemic year (and we’re still going), it’s taught us that no matter what, it’s always Kindness, Empathy and Love that Wins, and that these very ingredients can be applied to tackle any crisis.
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A Time of Self-Realization and Healing
We all have struggled in the year 2020 — but if you are still here and reading this piece of writing, brace yourself and give yourself a hug that you made it out of 2020.
On the one hand, you can be happy for the feeling that you are still here on this planet — on the other hand, last year gave us a chance to Sit, to Rethink, to Declutter, to Restart ourselves and our lives.
I am speaking to every person. We have all been quarantined at home — we have all been alone — we have all lost something or someone in someway. This makes is aperfect time for self-realization and for maintaining health amidst pandemic.
The quarantine really worked for me for “self-realization.” It gae me the chance to look at things and emotions which I had no courage to face and improve before. I can do better and you can too. The year 2020 just was a blessing in disguise for me and I hope you will let it be a great remembrance for you as well.
The Pursuit of Self-Realization
In the pursuit of self-realization and inner peace we may think to divide the emotions as either bad or good, sad or happy. But, I believe that these emotions of ours have more to offer us. From shallow to deep insight and realization, our emotions are there. Blessings and suffering both come hand in hand together under the veil of such pandemics.
Please take a deep breath and listen to me. One blessing in the last year is that you survived. Now ask, how will you play your part? Are you going to sit back and watch or can you take this sign from the universe and step forward and do something more with your life? No one can play your life-part better than you do.
Generally, when you have feelings that you are a failure or you have failed you are unhappy. Being stuck at home made all of those feelings worse. But, if you look deeper at your feelings — there is more to it. There is a lot to be dealt with in grief, sadness, mourning, sympathy and empathy. The BEST NEWS — if you are feeling these emotions — it simply shows that You Are A Human.
The last year has been overwhelming — overwhelming, overwhelming. But it may just mean that it’s a high time that we do our self-analysis. Have you observed the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly? Consider, just like the caterpillar, last year was your metamorphosis phase, and you can start anew.
Take Away Note
Let’s not lose hope, optimism and empathy. Those who sacrificed their lives for us showed what the year 2020 has taken and left for us.
We all still have the chance to emerge and soar high for a better life and move forward to a better cause — especially without compromising our health in this digital era.
This mere ordinary life is not ordinary anymore as it was a part of catastrophe and we survived. We all have witnessed the horrors of a pandemic.
Even when we were scared of technology, it was a technology that gave hope. It was also the compassion that didn’t surrender in front of coronavirus.
I don’t know what exactly will emerge from this pandemic outbreak. But, I am sure we should not take health for granted. We should work together for a cause with a hope for a better hope.
