Day 100

Today is the 100th day of the year, and it feels like a thousand days have passed. It has definitely been a tiring year so far for the world, and we're still floating on the sea of uncertainty and fear. I still feel like we're still living in a limbo, awating what's coming ahead, holding on to a hope that this will be over soon, yet living with worry that we might still have a long way to go ahead of us.

I've been thinking and contemplating a lot about these 100 days. Life has changed drastically for all of us. Yet at the same time, I feel like we learned a lot about these 100 days. These 100 days have forced us to think about a lot of things too, the way the world functions, the way we interact and communicate with each other, and the way we live our daily lives. And it's kind of good, that we use this time to stop and think, and reflect about this world, and life as we know it. Or the many things that we don't know of.

I would like to use this post as a reflection of everything that has happened in these 100 days.

The world is not ready for a pandemic. We are not ready for a pandemic

This is the first and main thing that comes to my mind. We are truly not ready for a pandemic. From every side of this pandemic. Healthcare side, economic side, and social side. As hospitals struggle to keep up with the influx of patients, as nurses and doctors fight to keep patients alive, as scientists scramble to find vaccines and drugs to combat the virus, and as economically-struggling people couldn't afford treatment. Millions of people around the world lost their jobs, or are in dangers of losing their jobs because of this massive disruption. And these people also struggle to feed themselves and their family. At the same times, countries seem to be stumbling trying to find ways to save their people.

We, are truly not ready for a pandemic.

My hope for the future is that I hope countries will make plans for a pandemic, or a global economic disruption. Perhaps we need to look at ways people are finding livelihood. And we need to look at ways of how countries can help support their people in times of crisis. Not only the government, but its people too. We should help one another in times of crisis, and survive this not only just as a country, but ultimately as a human race. Socially, economically and psychologically supporting each other!

We also need to look at the heroes currently in the battlefield - nurses, doctors and healthcare workers. Without these warriors we will be struggling even further. We need to find ways to support them even more. It's not easy being them really. As for the warriors behind the scenes - the scientists and researchers. We need to support this field too. Every country should try to equip themselves with tools to support this sector in times of a pandemic, or in fact in many normal times too.

Which talking about this, I truly enjoyed the recent TEDx talk by Alanna Shaikh and also by Bill Gates back in 2015. A global healthcare system is the future. When there is an outbreak of a disease of known or unknown origin, countries should rally to help the outbreak-source country to prevent a widespread outbreak (like a pandemic) from happening. Data should be easily accessed by everyone, and we should be able to contain the outbreak quickly and efficiently, if everyone's working together.

Life is being boiled down to its pure core

The past one hundred days really made me think about life in general. I think we are currently being forced to sit down, slow down and think about this life as we know it. Currently the world as we know it has been plunged into the sea of uncertainty. We don't know what's going to happen. And as much as this is the truth, if we think about it.... Isn't life like this too, in general? That life is just too unpredictable, too uncertain. And we live everyday holding on to our faith.

We start to think about what truly matters in our lives. We seem to think a lot about simplifying many things in life. The way we work, the way we earn a living and so on. In this time, we are truly forced to just reflect about life. Okay forced isn't such a great work to be used here. But yes I think many people will understand this. The slowing down of life's pace, has surely made us reflect.

We need to reevaluate the way we interact with the world, and nature

We don't 100% exactly know where does patient 0 in Wuhan China got the disease from. Is it the consumption of an infected animal? Or is it passed from an infected animal in the market? This question leaves a big question mark. But with the fact that the virus is very closely related to the virus found in bats shows that it comes from a wildlife animal. And this is a clear reminder and warning to us humans to leave wildlife animals for good! We should just leave them in nature.

And the recent video surfacing of a speech by Dr Greger in 2008, about the dangers of factory farming and pandemics have taught us further that we need to also reevaluate the way we obtain our food from. I will talk about this in another separate post. But basically... Factory farms are a perfect breeding ground and a ticking time bomb for a pandemic. And we need to act quickly, to prevent it.

In the lyrics from "When You Believe" - Though Hope Is Frail, It's Hard To Kill

I know it's hard to remain hopeful in today's world, especially when everything we read on the news seems dark. But seeing the spirit of other people supporting one another. The gratitude people show to the nurses, doctors and healthcare workers. The way people lift each other with songs and words and arts in times of isolation. I still see the spark of humanity. I still see the long road ahead that we can all walk on together. Though the road ahead still seems bumpy, better days are coming!

And yup these are some of my thoughts of the past 100 days of this long and tiring year. It's been only 3 months and it already feels like a decade heh. Am I worried? Yes. Am I scared? Kind of. But somehow I took comfort in knowing that there's nothing much I can do, and comfort in knowing that there are still things I can do and take. That despite the big changes I'm going to go through, there is faith and hope that I can still go through them. And I will arrive somewhere out of this.

Please take care and stay safe everyone. We will get through this.