This is an article that I wrote last year during the COVID period. It contains perceptions of life then (last year) and the life now (this year). The article supposes that no stark differences have been established between these two years, with regards to the COVID situation.
By Nyokabi Ng’ang’a
Thumbnail photo courtesy of lovethispic.com
Nobody expected that such a calamity will hit our world this big, apart from God and perhaps, our world masters. Nobody saw that such a time like this, children would be confined in their homes with their parents, with these two parties left wondering who will be fending for the other.
Life has become a distant friend, whom we will call when everything comes back to normalcy.
Instead of books, our social media life has become our new order of the day. Instead of our future hopes, our now challenges have become our life’s determinants. The line has been drawn afresh and the divide has been established a huge. The digital, social, cultural, religious, and economic divide has been our world’s landmarks.
The devastation has been our new embrace, but many of us are yet to admit this is so. Our lives are being blinded, blinded by the uneasiness we feel and the comfort we seek. While some can afford their next meal, others can afford their empty sleep. It has become a new race of who can survive and who cannot survive this pandemic.
While some knocked their heads off in school and made it a point of note that their futures were bright, others in the same environment, chose a kick to the door of failure. But, as of now, our world has placed us on the same footing: an economic downturn, a challenging future, failing systems, and weak foundations. This then leaves us wondering: “Shall we come out victorious?”
While victory is always established by defeated failure, our true victory will only be established by changed systems. After this pandemic, we will desire new things, we will desire a change. This could be a lifestyle change, a change in belief, a change in practice, a change in order, and perhaps, a change in leadership; be it in self-leadership or institutional leadership. And by stating leadership, I don’t mean leaders. Just as argued by Dr. Allan Bukusi in his book Thinking Leadership in Africa, leadership means the act and art of harnessing resources and mobilizing people towards a common goal. Leadership according to Dr. Allan, incorporates four things: systems, structures, leaders, and people. So, by stating a change in leadership, it could mean an independent change in either of the four aforementioned things/variables or a holistic change, of the four, in our lives.
The only thing that can lead us to that next level is leadership. Our weak systems, failing structures, and unprepared selves have all been exposed. No tables have been left unturned. While we are trying to wear a smile amid this havoc, our deepest hearts and souls are deeply sinking.
We are on the verge of death. Death not only seen and presented physically but also manifested inwardly. Our inward deaths are characterized by curtailed dreams and hopes, changing mindsets, and negative and depressive thoughts. For the young, we are still in wonderment of the realizations of our future and for the old, we are in the questioning of the placement of our next lives. We are all caught up in a puzzle, a puzzle of who has the right piece to solve this labyrinth of life. Sadly, even the biggest of the fish have no right puzzle. We are all in the same boat together, with the hopes of a safe shore-landing which can only be determined by who is steering and paddling our world boat and who is seated on the back row of our seemingly sinking water vehicle.
Are those taking the captain’s lead wise and caring enough? Are those paddling our world boat strong and skilled enough? Are those taking the back-bencher’s seat weight-conscious enough?
These are the questions racing my mind when picturing our world boat and the battles we are facing as we try to reach the safe shoreline.
For this world boat to travail the tempestuous waves and tides of the sea and the scares of the storm and the cries within the passenger-body within this boat, one thing is needed- Coordination.
In context, for our world to drive back to normalcy, all nations have to be included as this virus has taught us that we could be many a nation but basically, human. It is not our nationhood that should override the cause of humanity but humanity overriding the cause of nationhood. With this in mind, one country cannot re-embark on living life while the other/s is still grappling with this pandemic.
For one country to fully reroute back to normalcy, it will not only take a helping hand from other nations but also security provided by its army quarters and most importantly, neighboring countries. This is not to mean that a country cannot resurface from the claws of this virus at their own chosen and appointed time, but it is to mean that no amount of self-help can overrule the importance of world security and the good state of all the citizens of this globe. After all, it’s only a healthy individual who can fully help a sick person.
Leadership and coordination are the moral imperatives of this article. Think of it!