Week 11 of the modified coronavirus quarantine

WEEK 11 of the modified coronavirus quarantine, and I am glad I did not bother to change the title of this column the last few weeks of a looser regimen. We are back where we started and in spades, with record-breaking infection numbers counted by the day.

This virus is tough, and we should hang tough because the only way so far to beat it is by attrition through self- defense measures. Avoid crowds, do social distancing, wear a mask and stay in one safe place all the time.

Do not put your hopes in a vaccine. It will take longer than you wish and when it comes, we should watch and wait if it really works safely and effectively. The mad rush to come up with a vaccine may have inadvertently led to cutting corners. Accusations are already rife that some countries and/ or manufacturers are in a race that may have thrown out the window.

So, back in our quarantine quarters we contemplate our outside world of unhappy scenes. Businesses closing, jobs lost, economy under pressure. We leave it to our economic team to navigate this sea of hazards and wish them the best.

And there are ugly pictures to contemplate. The misunderstanding of what the health workers were concerned about has brought needless anger, insult and grief which is being returned in kind. This is a useless dispute that will only take energy away from what has to be done — fight the virus and win. Fighting among ourselves is counterproductive to what we should be doing and achieving.

The PhilHealth mess is aggravating. But there is a lesson to be learned which is that like a number of government agencies that dispense or manage huge amounts of money, there is always the peril that they convert themselves over time into kingdoms of darkness where crimes are committed underhandedly and obscurely until greed takes over and higher risk crimes are attempted. When the total comes up to the light of day, we face unbelievable high crimes committed over the course of the kingdom of darkness’ existence at a cost that this country and its people cannot afford seeing the need and the resources that have been withheld from them.

Putting this out in the light of day is not enough. Even changing leadership at the top is not enough. The new leader may be a paragon of virtue, all the more to be clueless and misled by the kingdom of darkness that he has been made to preside. It takes a leader that has the understanding and experience of the criminal mind. No, he does not have to be a criminal, but he has to understand how a criminal thinks and works, plans and acts. It is a tough call but considering the rampant criminality that goes on in public offices in this country, there should be some students of crime or perceptive minds on the side of right that have it figured out and that can be equal to criminal minds in the war against corruption.

I am afraid that is the way it is when materialism because of need (too many of us are too poor living among a few who are too rich giving rise to the ambition to acquire wealth no matter how) and an overwhelming lack of ethics, religion and higher values.

So far, this pandemic does not seem to be teaching the majority how a better future can be achieved. While it goes on, we go on doing what we did before.

The law on the teaching of Good Manners and Right Conduct has just been passed and has to be implemented. But school here takes a back seat to family. Unless we start seriously telling and showing our children to choose honor above wealth, sacrifice for a higher cause above comfort for oneself, and the courage to stand firm in the face of the mob fighting those values, we are bound to repeat what is happening.

Maybe while we are in quarantine, we should think about revising our priorities, putting country above family and God above all. Let us start with ourselves for the mustard seed can grow into a big and sturdy tree as the Gospel tells us.