The pandemics in the pandemic

Humanity must choose between perverse individualism or empathy, which brings to light a vision of the other...

We live in an unprecedented time in this century. Perhaps even in the history of humanity, in which other pandemics of the past weigh.

Covid-19 opens up our social and moral differences. Misinformation is fatal and cannot, just like the disease, be treated in an elusive way like other pandemics plaguing the planet. Our senses are still immune to a number of them; wars and misery, to put it succinctly.

Unlike hunger, the perversity of the coronavirus jumps out at the eyes of the first world, taking its well-fed citizens by storm.

Today we have our biggest challenge and success inevitably depends on cooperative actions among all countries.

Great powers exercised their economic power to subjugate other nations, interrupting and diverting the supply of essential products, mainly those intended for health.

Viral populism brings with it national isolation, mediocre vision and the creation of enemies of flesh and blood, when our forces should be focused on the invisible, not only with the purpose of combating it, but aiming to learn the lessons embedded in its genome, which go beyond Biology, as well as the attentive observation of the global changes we are going through.

How will we relate to the future? What will be our priorities regarding the accumulation of wealth and material goods?

These questions can be crucial to how we handle our existence on this planet.

In the middle of the twenty-first century, we still have rulers around the world who shrug off science, prioritizing their own beliefs. On the other hand, scientific discoveries should not be a privilege that will benefit a few, but something that should be shared for the common good. Conversely, the moment teaches us how the “common evil” can be spread quickly and easily.

It is up to humanity to choose which side it will place itself on: perverse individualism or empathy, which brings to light a vision of the other as a similar being at the mercy of the same needs?

Populist governments politicize the disease, inoculating the guilt virus in people of other nations, inciting hatred and discrimination. Thus, the borders of cooperation are increasingly limited, the erected walls become insurmountable and the distances, insurmountable.

We have to learn from a possible new world order. It is imperative that we start over, peering through the darkness into which Covid-19 has plunged us.

There are many pandemics within a pandemic.

It is not just a question of mobilizing a nation, awakening nationalist and warlike pride in the people.

We must place ourselves above the standards.

We are not just one country… We are the world.

Marcelo Kassab.

Writer and Dental Surgeon.