Messages and Beginnings

It seems with lower infection rates we once again have a reason for cautious optimism that things seem to have finally begun to turn the corner. Most of us are probably very near the end of our rope with the current pandemic.

As we look back into the last 2 years, we remember loss, isolation, uncertainty, indignity, acrimony, fear, helplessness, intolerance, hopelessness, cynicism, squander, inequity and ignorance, among many other things we all would rather forget. At some point, however, we would eventually come to the conclusion that Covid-19 merely highlighted things that had already existed prior, and will continue to exist long after.

But our histories are both individually and collectively written in many chapters, and this Covid-19 pandemic is just one of them. If asked to state with certainty what good this current pandemic had brought about, I can at least say that people now generally seem to be more willing to show kindness towards one another.

Without going into very personal details, I draw reflections from events in October 2020, March/April of 2021, and as recently as February 2022, to share two of the most unforgettable lessons I have learned in my own version of this chapter in our collective history:

The 1st lesson - that we should all consider the truth behind the saying that everything happens in 3’s. Rather than promoting superstition or some form of mystical numerology, I will qualify that a message sent 3 times should be enough for a functionally-cognitive person to completely understand what that given message is trying to say. Curiously enough, collectively we have also experienced 3 major surges here in Metro Manila since 2020, prior to the Omicron surge just last January.

The 2nd lesson - that everything happens for a reason, and that we just have to muster enough courage, grit and patience to find out what that is. Certainly, the Omicron surge had been a result of us collectively missing the message of the first 3 surges. Yes, life must go on. But we may have to accept that it is no longer the same life we have always been accustomed to, and that sensible changes are needed at some point soon.

Missed messages aside, I shall keep reminding myself about these 2 lessons, for the days to come.