Never let a good crisis go to waste

NEVER before in history have all the government leaders of nations been compelled to single-mindedly focus for so long and with such intensity on a common enemy.

But then we have never been simultaneously and collectively targeted by so insidious and dangerous an enemy as Covid-19.

Never in our lived experience have so many of us had to stop doing what we do for a living and confine ourselves to our homes in order to observe lockdown rules.

Never before have we experienced our TVs devoid of soccer, rugby, cricket, tennis and other sports.

Walking and exercising to keep fit have been denied us.

We wake to an endless dawning of silent Sundays where long days at the beach or happy hours picnicking seem like distant memories. The muezzin doesn’t call the faithful to prayer and no church bells ring.

The first day of the declared end of the first, 21-day lockdown is gone. Is there ever going to be a timetable in the short term to help us plan our lives or will we be chasing the horizon until some treatment or vaccine is available?

How the simple things that we took for granted have so much allure in them.

On the positive side, noise has abated, air pollution has lifted and the skies have cleared. We have been brought face to face with the horrendous consequences of living our lives in conflict with nature.

Wisdom teaches that humankind should never waste a crisis. We cannot go back to our old ways. We are under a compulsion to forge a new path and harness new technology less deleterious to nature.