MORAL LESSONS TO BE TAKEN FROM CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK
O n the evening of 3 August 1492, Columbus departed from Spain with three ships. Columbus first sailed to the Canary Islands and he restocked provisions and made repairs in Gran Canaria, then departed on 6 September, for what turned out to be a five-week voyage across the ocean.
It took 5 weeks to cross the Atlantic Ocean but when we come to the 2000s, the distance between the two most distant points of the world is 13 hours.
The spread of the coronavirus only takes few hours in 2020… The virus has been seen first in China and a plane journey would be enough to trigger the pandemic.
The Black Death, also known as the Great Plague was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe from 1347 to 1351.
But, Coronavirus has reached its peak in weeks.
We are all neighbours nowadays…
There is no such thing that fighting with the virus alone. Nothing is a domestic issue anymore.
It did not bother us that the woman who sewed the t-shirt you put on get trapped under the debris of the fallen factory in Bangladesh.
We are afraid only because we cannot remain unresponsive to this virus while somebody is suffering in somewhere far from us it was easy to turn our heads to things that do not touch us.
Although, we know about the existence of children who died of hunger in Africa, we have not felt the fear of hunger until now.
Living in inhuman conditions, lacking basic rights and freedoms, one in three African children are stunted and hunger accounts for almost half of all child deaths across the continent. Oh true! The virus is not dangerous yet for kids…So we can ignore it for now(!)
We are suggested to drink lots of water to protect our wellbeing besides washing our hands as many as possible. Another disturbing fact we have to face is ;
More than 2 billion people have no relationship with water.
You may be hungry, you may be seriously ill, there may be war in your country. But you cannot be dehydrated, you cannot live. Well, we thankfully have water for now. So we can ignore it for now…
BUT
Are we ready for a world where 700 million people will leave their land and start moving?
Are we going to spray them with gas bombs at the borders?
Because just 20 years later, the living space of 600 million people under the age of 18 will face thirst and they will have to move and find somewhere to live.
