Change or perish

INDEED, many people would have different descriptions and opinions regarding the current situation we are all collectively experiencing, brought about by the unprecedented crisis of a global pandemic. For some it is a form of retribution wreaked upon them by the gods they believe in as apunishment for the sins of our civilization, while for others it is nature’s way of healing from the global destruction we have wrought on our planet and a pause from our insatiable thirst for fossil fuels.

Yet in the plethora of reasons and narratives that seem to contradict each other, if there is one thing that ultimately describes this crisis, it is that it is something new and unique that we are all facing together. No government, no religion, no race and no community is immune from this virus that has already infected more than 10 million people around the world. And for everything new that we experience, there is learning and growth, may it be personal or collective — a chance for reform for all.

A reform that is ever- present from the civilizations that have both perished and thrived in the course of human history. From the Aztec civilizations of the Americas that fell to the Spanish colonizers, to the indigenous communities of today that are facing cultural reformation by adapting to our modernizing world, what inconveniently prevails are the broken systems and institutions that accede to such backward and conservative thinking that have impeded the positive reform that we desire so much in our society. That even in a technologically advancing and globalized developing world, countries like the Philippines have to face the pandemic with much greater risks to their citizens because of the incompetence of the government and leaders. How neighboring countries like Thailand and Vietnam, despite being labeled in the same category as the Philippines as a developing country in Southeast Asia with relatively similar-size populations, have managed to flatten the curve and defeat the pandemic.

There seems to be a lot of factors that play around the current situation of our country in fighting this virus, that maybe some would argue, our geography of being an archipelagic country with thousands of island provinces have greatly affected increased infection rates due to the necessity to take airplanes or ships to get back home, or even blaming the socalled lack of discipline of Filipinos. Yet for all the reasons that add up to the different descriptions, as I’ve stated before, why is it that our government can’t seem to own up to its inactionand mishandling of the pandemic knowing this is all in fact new to all of us. Where politicians would even go so far as to claim that the government has defeated the 40,000 coronavirus case prediction made by the topranking learning institution and scientists in our country, whose only intention is to guide our governmental leaders on how we can prevent the further spread of this virus in the Philippines. Such are the disillusions of an image our government is trying to save, with so little that they have to show.

This chance for reform for our governments and institutions may forever be a lost cause, but sooner or later we have to accept our failures, to be held accountable for our mistakes, if we want to change. For only civilizations that can adapt to the new extremes and unique experiences we are all facing today, are the ones that are going to thrive tomorrow.