Recent events related to the Covid-19 (more popularly known as “coronavirus”) have created a mass of hysteria that reached global proportions.
I have never seen anything like this before in my lifetime. Recent memory of SARS which was another deadly virus did not grip the world as much as this coronavirus scare.
Since the outbreak, every day, you see local & global markets tumbling down; you read about cancelled flights, cancelled shows, lockdowns, suspended classes and work, even halting sports and games like the NBA which just announced that it is suspending games indefinitely, because a player got infected with the coronavirus.
Even Lebron James captured it succinctly when he said,
”Man we cancelling sporting events, school, office work etc etc.
What we really need to cancel is 2020! Damn it’s been a rough 3 months. God bless and stay safe.”
This pandemic, which the World Health Organization, just declared a couple of days ago, triggered a domino effect that caused disruptions on the way we do things.
The negative effects of Fear.
Herd mentality
I used the phrase, “herd mentality” or it can be “mob mentality” as well since everybody is doing it at the expense of others. Really, it is not helping. Decisions that lead to actions are based largely on emotions and no longer reason. When irrational fear translates into a collective act, it is a syndrome of “herd mentality”.
For instance, in the field of investing, the stock markets around the world is in a turmoil, short of saying it is “soaking in a blood bath”. Why, you may ask? Everybody is selling off and running away with their dwindling investments. To them, they would rather hold on to cash in times like these then let their investments dissipate; the massive sell-off triggered circuit breakers in stock exchanges (note: this happened in the US stock exchange and here in the PSE). This means that trading came to a halt. It needs to stop for a few minutes to “arrest the downslide”. It’s like saying, “hey, man, cool it down. It’s not the end of the world yet.” Or is it? Note: If you will think about it, consider it as a “paper loss”. Exercise caution and prudence. If you need to top up, by all means, you are buying at a bargain – it may sound distasteful but to a level headed investor – this is the best time to buy. So who’s the loser here? The economy. It creates a domino effect. It ripples throughout. Bad for business.
This “herd mentality” is best manifested when people resort to “panic buying”. What triggers “panic buying”? Fear. And it starts with gossip until it becomes viral. People fear that there will be a lockdown so they hurriedly go to the supermarket and with all their might, grab all the stuff that they could grab and buy, lining up for hours just to grab all the things that they really don’t need to buy for themselves, leaving little or none at all, to those group of people who need it most: perhaps, the medical and health practitioners; the sick and dying; the elderly and bedridden; the poor and those who cannot afford to buy. What about them? How about them? Who will take care of them when they need things that are not available at the time you need those things? It’s a scary scenario. Because you cannot count on the government to be on your side in times like these. Yet, it’s the reality. The irrational collective act can do more damage as a whole than being a beneficial one.
It is not even the coronavirus scare that started it. When Taal volcano erupted last January 2020, people started hoarding face masks, at the expense of medical and health practitioners who need it most.
Discrimination, Racism & Hate.
Recently, I saw a video that became viral. I think it happened in Europe. The scene was in a supermarket. A local European suddenly punched the face of the guy mistakenly thought to be a Chinese but turned out to be a Filipino. Why did the local punched the foreigner guy? Probably because of hate? Seeing people of different color or race triggered racism and discrimination, not to mention “hate”. In a popular burger chain here in the Philippines, a Chinese lined up to order but while waiting, he can’t control his sneezing. Guess what happened? All those people who lined up scampered away and ran for their lives. Poor guy. He had to explain that he is not sick. Must be a bad time to be a Chinese these days, huh? Just like the 911 days when every Muslim you see is evil personified. Just like in the last WWII, when every German citizen you see is a Nazi. Makes the word unfair to be an understatement, to say the least.
Where is this discrimination, racism & hate coming from?
When you identify a certain race or color or group of people that caused thousands, if not millions of deaths, and you blame all these deaths from this certain race, discrimination, racism and hate are born.
How this “lockdown” is affecting all of us
As of this writing, a “lockdown” has been declared effective today, March 15, 2020 and will last for 30 days; Metro Manila mayors agreed to impose a curfew as well from 8pm to 5am.
The purpose of the lockdown is to contain the spread of this coronavirus.
When you don’t mingle with the crowd, you don’t risk yourself from getting infected. In the same way, if you are infected and you don’t know it, you don’t spread the risk since the virus is obviously contagious.
Hopefully, when the lockdown period is over, the virus would have died down. During the lockdown, it is hoped that those who are getting treatments would have been healed as well.
Indeed, this lockdown has disrupted major activities, including our regular activities that we used to do.
So, we need to be creative and make the most of our time while at home.
Social media is full of “what to dos” in times like this.
In hindsight
To be hit by the virus is scary enough so you need to be extra careful like observe and practice personal hygiene.
So when you do not equip yourself with knowledge and just play out with the behavior of everyone else, the fear is magnified. It develops into the fear of the unknown.
In times like these, we should be pragmatic.
We need to do the sensible things like being prepared at all times and not being reactive esp. in times like this.
We can buy stuff little by little and keep a cabinet of supplies. After all, this is what you call “unexpected events”.
Same thing with insurance and investments. We should have not waited for this kind of events to happen before we evaluate that we need to protect ourselves from the “unexpected”. We should have “hoarded” these financial instruments a few years ago so we would realize the importance of these in times like this.
While it’s good to protect ourselves with gears, alcohol, gloves, face masks, etc., our last line of defense should be our immune system. Get enough sleep; exercise; load yourself with vitamins; eat healthy food. Basic stuff that our mother taught us if followed can go a long way.
Again, social media abounds with precautionary measures against this plague.
More importantly, while the rest have been busy “panicking” and sharing helpful information, have you considered things that you will do if you were hit by the virus? Seriously.
Couples, families should talk among themselves in the event that a family member is stricken with the disease, like what do we do? Not being pessimistic but since I am an advocate of preparing things for “unexpected events” like these, I think about these things and plan this kind of scenario, while praying that it won’t happen to us. This type of thing is beyond our control so we seek divine intervention to protect us.
If there’s one takeaway from this “lockdown” thing, it made me realized the brevity of life.
Sa tingin mo ba, kung hindi nakamamatay itong virus na to, magkakagulo ba tayo ngayon? (Do you think that if covid-19 doesn’t kill, will we be disrupted like this on a national scale?)
Reports of increasing no. of deaths are alarming, locally and more so, globally. Even if it’s not automatically fatal as some are still undergoing treatment, it is like being meted out a death sentence if you become afflicted with Covid-19.
So as a result, if there’s one good thing that was caused by this menace, perhaps more people sought out God in prayer. That is my personal observation.
Suddenly, social media abounds with the prayer of protection esp. against the plague in Psalm 91, which to me is a good thing.
Suddenly, people started praying, individually and collectively.
Maybe it is God’s way of telling us to seek Him esp. in times like this.
In the Bible when the Lord appeared to Solomon, He said,
“When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people… (2 Chronicles 7:13).
If you will notice from the statement above, it reminded you of the bushfires that burned practically the whole of Australia recently and rain is nowhere to be found. Suddenly, people started praying. Please note that social media reported that even some atheists started to pray out of desperation. People all over the world kept praying until bursts of rainfall appeared and contained the bushfires.
Recently also in Africa, there have been swarms of locusts that have been ravaging East Africa. They say that the swarms are a result of heavy rainfall and cyclones. Nonetheless.
And now this: a plague is disrupting the whole world.
The 3 events mentioned above are happening again.
Let me repeat the 3 events: “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people… (2 Chronicles 7:13).
Maybe the Lord GOD is telling us something.
Let us continue with the verse from 2 Chronicles 7:13,
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)
Personally, I believe that this big disruption is God’s way of telling us, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17)
Yea, “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near” (Isaiah 55:6) or it may be too late.
Yes, this too shall pass but a big crisis like this should make you think on what should be your life’s priorities.
God is real. Seek Him.
iamronniereyes.com 