As we ring in the new year with this column, let me wish all readers a very happy, safe, peaceful and prosperous new year. Perhaps, human beings have never looked with so much anticipation to the start of a new year, nor would any other year have been so anxiously awaited.
Everyone is hoping that with the vaccination process having already started in the UK, with a number of vaccines on the anvil, the trauma of the pandemic can be firmly put behind us in 2021. UK's trade deal with the EU has been received with relief. These give hope that 2021 has an auspicious start.
It is an understatement to say that 2020 has been a challenging year. With around 80 million cases globally, over 1.7 million deaths, and numbers continuing to climb, the human impact of the pandemic is enormous. The suffering from the disease has been compounded by the devastation caused to the global economy. Job losses and vanishing or reduced incomes have shattered many lives. Loneliness and mental distress caused by isolation imposed by the pandemic has affected millions, as fear and stress of the situation seems all pervasive. The vulnerable have been impacted most of all.
While I feel for everyone, the suffering brought upon the elderly has probably affected me the most. The elders in any society struggle with lonely lives, often battling a sense of increasing irrelevance as they begin to need others much more than others need them. Many elderly people in Western societies live alone or in care homes. In many Eastern societies, the joint family system remains intact, providing some family support base to the elderly; even there, increasing urbanisation, long travel times for the younger generations and pressures of modern living, have meant greater isolation of the elderly. Increased longevity, an achievement of our times, brought care homes to the forefront of elderly care. Unfortunately, it is the care homes that became early victims of the pandemic. For the first time grandparents couldn’t even hug their children and little ones learnt that they had to protect their beloved grandparents by staying away from them.
There are many lessons that one should take from this devastating year. Perhaps most important is the reminder that life is fragile; re-examining our priorities must be on the top of our list. Ambition and hard work are absolutely essential, but one needs to make time for oneself, the family and our elderly. The pandemic has shown us that much of what we do can be done from home. Many sectors are planning to reorient their future operations by continuing with the existing arrangements. This would be a good outcome as it would bring down vehicular traffic and resultant pollution. While continuing with ‘work from home’, the human impact cannot be overlooked. Human beings are social animals and our work place often serves as our emotional hub, where we have ‘pals’ and ‘buddies’. We will need to find ways to continue human bonding at the work place. We’ve also realised the importance of friends, whom we can call for no reason and at any time. Let us find ways to thank those who are always there for us. Most of all, we can be thankful that we survived the rigours and challenges thrown at us by 2020. Hope this experience has made us stronger and more humane.
The pandemic follows humanity’s long rush towards materialism and modernity. Our experiences of this last year remind us that it is time to reflect on the future of our planet, our mother earth. The current global population is over 7.8 billion. In 1950, we were just 2.5 billion people. This explosion in our numbers has adversely affected our planet and its flora and fauna. Pollution of water, air and soil are reaching alarming proportions. A recent study has found micro plastic in human foetus. Our generation has exploited nature, but forgotten to give back. If this pandemic makes us pause and think of where we are going, or rather where we are taking our planet, the suffering of the last one year wouldn’t have been for nothing. Let us wish success to the forthcoming UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow. Let us not waste this challenge.
You can follow me on Twitter: @RuchiGhanashyam
