A la vie, à la mort - for better, for worse

 

Isn’t it amazing the changes we have witnessed in the last 6 months? Corona / COVID came out of the blue, surprised the life out of each of us and has been like a larger than life villain! These months have seemed like a high-tech science fiction movie. Real life really mirrors reel life… or is it the other way around?

The villain is secretly unleashed on the human race (knowingly or unknowingly? Let’s be politically correct and not go down that path). Initially it seemed like a much-maligned dark sheep of the family, a long-lost benevolent uncle who returns to the fold and is forgiven by all (Didn’t the Italians hug every Chinese on the streets to show their comradeship?)

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Then slowly the evil strikes from within; it spreads it’s poisonous tentacles catching the world community unawares. By the time our heroes (read medical frat) realise the gravity of the situation, the evil villain (is there any other kind?) is beginning to hold the world at ransom.

Its demanding lives to assuage its never-ending hunger; it’s not willing to cower down in-spite of lock-downs and other measures put in place. Like it happens in all horror and disaster movies, the human-race must lose desperately before the hero can step in to save us. 

On one hand are the quick to dismiss disbelievers (economists, so-called “hep folks”, foolhardy ignoramus) who cannot bear to change their profiteering attitude, their cool life-styles or admit their idiocies, so refuse to believe there is any real danger to mankind. On the other, the hero is now assisted by his childhood idiotic buddies (read soothsayers, quacks and the know-alls). With the villain practically living in his house (and chilling with a cold beer and hot samosas), forget dealing with this imminent danger, the hero must first make an impassioned speech to all concerned. Point out the folly of our actions and thoughts, sermonise about how everything we have been doing is incorrect; how we need to change everything about ourselves – basically, re-invent the human-race to survive.

This is what moves everyone to realise they have been doing it all wrong (the villain heard the sermon while sipping his 2^nd beer without feeling the need to attack the hero and shut him up). Mankind now knows that they themselves are the actual heroes and the solution lies literally in their hands alone (aka washing hands, masking up, sanitizing solutions, social distancing, etc). They implement all and soon the world’s in the “All’s well that ends well” stage with the credits rolling on the reel screen.

In the real life, we seem to be in the “for better, for worse” phase of our life! By adopting all the precautions recommended, we need to “befriend” this devil of a virus as it’s here to stay and live with us. But can one even look at it in a friendly, positive manner when one views the fallout of all this?

Know thy enemy better then your friends. Hence, "for better, for worse," we have to recognise its potency n give it its due. Only then can we hope to reach a “relatively” happy THE END.