By HH Mohrmen
Months and years from now, when the ordeal that people are facing is over, writers will start writing about the year 2020 and 2021. The years no doubt are the most happening years in the history of the world. When the trials and tribulations are over, with the benefit of hindsight, writers will look back and put their thoughts on papers. Some of the write-ups will showcase how best people have reacted to the situation and others will illustrate how people have failed as humans.
Any which way we look at it, misfortune will definitely bring to light the truth of how people reacted to one of the greatest challenges that humans have ever faced in recent history. And irrespective of what the outcome is, there will be both the positive and negative side of the story. There will always be two or more ways of how people react to the pandemic. The reason is because not all the people are the same and without any doubt, different people will react differently and that of course must be respected.
No doubt there are people who think that they are more important than others. They expect to be treated differently and believe that the virus will not be able to attack them. These people violate government orders and throw the SOPs out of the window because they think they are important. Yet still there are people who may not think that they are as important as the others, but are in the habit of sneaking. They believe that they will not be caught and they violate the government’s orders with impunity.
Then when the vaccination is available as expected there is a section of the population who have hesitancy in taking the jab. In the state of Meghalaya religion cannot be blamed for the vaccination hesitancy, as almost all the leaders of prominent faith groups have come out to encourage their followers to take the injection. It is now obvious that vaccination hesitancy has nothing to do with religion or any belief system but it is due to people’s own prejudices.
There are people who are scared of giving vaccination because they are not aware of the consequences of not taking the vaccine. There are also those who have never had any injection in their whole life or never had a needle piercing their body. These are rare cases, but it is hoped that ultimately good sense will prevail and the majority of population, even those who initially have hesitation will get themselves vaccinated.
Humanity has indeed progressed in leaps and bounds on almost every spheres of life, but there is also something that has not changed. Certain human behaviour remains the same and jealousy, hate and distrust will always be there.
A man, who complained so much about the villages where he used to live, decided to move out of the village and find a better place to live in. He wanted to move to a village where there is no enmity, no jealousy, no hate amongst the villagers; a place where people live in peace and harmony. As he walked he reached the top of a hill and saw on the foothills a valley with beautiful houses. He was fascinated by what he saw and thought to himself that that place looks like the kind of village that he was looking for. After he had walked for some time, he saw a man sitting with a load laying near him. He moved close to him and asked the man the name of the village and also if the people in the village were good. The man, who was resting from his tiredness, instead answered him with a question. He asked him what kind of people live in the village that he had left. The man said that people are very bad; they are jealous of each other and there is too much hate. There is no peace in the place and that is the reason why he decided to leave the village. The man then responded by saying, “Well, there is not much difference then. The people who live in this village too are no different from them. Any village will consist of all kinds of people.”
But when writers look back at the months gone by, they will only look at how people in the state behaved in general. The focus will be on the attitude of the majority of the population and not of few exceptions. That is why in spite of so much fear and pain during this short span of time, people still have so much hope. There were many instances during the pandemic which made people believe that humanity is still alive. There is so much good that happens around which validates that not everything in this world is in peril. People reach out to help one another even in this small state of ours.
As one would expect people may disagree on how they help and support each other. Some may not like to take photographs of their good deeds, yet some may feel it is necessary but the point is people are extending their helping hands to help those in need. From an individual who had to shell out something from one’s own pocket to help others, to NGOs, Church and Faith organisations they have all extended their support. Even pressure groups in the state too have all come out to lend their helping hands to those in need in these trying times. This has only confirmed what sages and seers have been saying for ages, that there is always good in the human soul. There is a spark of light in the human soul which makes humans take care of each other. It is what gives many the reasons to believe that humanity is still alive.
Many years ago, Margaret Mead, a famous anthropologist, was once asked by her student a very important question. The question was what in her opinion was the first sign of civilization in human culture? The story has it that the students were expecting her to talk about clay pots, tools for hunting, grinding stones or even religious artefacts.
But to their surprise Mead told them that the first evidence of civilization occurred about 15,000 years ago. The evidence of the beginning of civilization was found in the ancient fracture femur bone located in an archaeological site. Femur is the longest bone in the human body; it is a bone which links the hip to the knee. During the time when the benefit of modern medicine like we have now was not available, it would take about six weeks for the fractured femur bone to heal. The femur bone that was found in the site was broken but had healed.
She further said that in the animal’s way of life, anyone that happens to break one leg will not survive. The reason is that the animal cannot run from danger, it cannot drink or hunt for food. It becomes meat for the predators. It is impossible for any creature to survive with a broken leg. Animals got eaten first before the bone healed. What the broken femur that has healed tells us is that somebody has taken the injured to a safer place. Somebody took time to take care of the victim till the wounded person recovered. A healed femur points to the fact that somebody has taken the risk to help rather than abandon the fallen person.
Human beings have since then known how to take care of one another. That was the lesson that was learned many thousand years ago. It is heartening that humans continue to take care of each other. And the pandemic due to the coronavirus has only demonstrated that the lesson that people learned thousands of years ago is still alive with us. Adversity has indeed brought out the best that is there in people.
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