Staying home, or under quarantine, or in isolation are not so relaxing. In the civilized modern world, people are not used to such order/disorder. These practices make life burdened or boring and at times vulnerable too. All these are challenging but by the will force one can make the situation meaningful by its proper planning and proper use of time. These are the issues for an in-terim period. When the crisis will be over, the challenges will disappear. Apparently, they may appear as challenge but with the better management of the previously mentioned challenging issues, one can see the good output at the end of the crisis. So, no one should be disappointed or morally disrupted. The will force, courage and confidence level will lead people to face hazards and crisis individually and collectively. There are other problems like leadership lacking, mistrust and misunderstanding, which also breach the social equity and equilibrium. Under the circumstances, the worldwide war has been declared to tackle the Coronavirus situation. We must fight with might and main. There is no way to retreat or fall back. In this situation, one must maintain tolerance, mutual trust and sense of belongingness. With all these qualities, we can together combat the Covid-19 and face any turmoiling situation. Otherwise, the crisis will be bigger and hit us with bigger force by which our survival will be more and more challenging. During time of home quarantine, it is not safe to leave home because of Coronavirus. People should not sit idle rather they must be active and do personal and family jobs. Long stay at home is monotonous. It is not stay for stay sake. Home stay must be meaningful. During quarantine period, one may spend time in reading, writing, learning, playing, and enjoying games, films and recreation. During quarantine period, one may involve in writing and innovative jobs.
Usually Bangalis are not so serious about their life. They take life almost as a casual phenomena. But in course of time, Bengali people are found so serious in many areas of their life. In particular, they are born to heroic race. They are not cowards. They can face any challenges in the times when it is needed. They do not spare any illegal or misdeeds or compromise to any favor or fear. This time when corona crisis is prevailing all over the world, the Bengali people will not sit idle. Being inspired by Surzasen, Preetilota and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman the Bengali people by taking oath will declare war again corona. Even if need be the modus operandi will be changed in their lifestyle for the betterment of their nation. The field of changes will play a very significant role in their future lifestyle. The following are the probable changes by which they can fight against the corona virus.
1. During and after corona crisis people will be more caring about their health.
2. People will be more responsive and responsible.
3. People will be more duty bound and time bound.
4. People will be found more pro-active and energetic.
5. People will be found more disciplined and effective.
6. People will be found more law abiding.
7. People will be found to be united.
8. People will be found to lead life based on ethics and morality.
9. People will be more careful and cautious.
10. People will be more bold, courageous and confident.
11. People will be more God fearing.
12. People will be more self-reliant.
13. People will be found more tolerant and sympathetic.
14. By attitude and manner, they will be more positive.
15. People will feel comfort in line of manner and etiquette.
16. People will be more cooperative in future.
17. People would be more caring about time management.
18. People will focus on skill development.
19. People will focus on one’s career build up.
20. People will be more humane and conscious.
21. Changes in education.
22. Changes in food habit.
One US psychologist rightly noted rather than talking about social distancing, we should be practising ‘distant socialising’. Isolation during a pandemic only means keeping a physical distance from people. According to studies, loneliness can be as damaging to our health as smoking number of cigarettes a day. So, don’t isolate yourself completely. Keep in touch with friends, family, neighbors and even your co-workers. Do it through Skype, phone calls, texting, email or any other form of digital communication. Ask how they’re doing and let them know how you’re doing. Offer support, love, and encouragement. Staying connected can help you manage negative emotions and guard you against any unhealthy coping mechanisms.
With so much uncertainty and a virus in the air, you need to accept that there’s not much you can control. So, the most important thing you should be focusing on right now is ensuring the safety of yourself and those around you. This only means maintaining good hygiene by washing hands more often, using sanitizers, covering your mouth while coughing, staying at home and keeping your immune system strong by maintaining a healthy diet. Stay informed about what’s happening through reliable sources only, such as the CDC and World Health Organization (WHO). But be sure to limit your media intake if it’s making you too anxious or stressed. It is never wise to panic during a pandemic.
What changes do we actually want? We want a decent quality of life for all our people. We want human rights and empathy to be our topmost priority. I want social work to be a part of our education system, right next to homework. We want videos to be made of the good initiatives and the love, so that one day when schools reopen-children will be shown films and be told stories with people at the centre as examples of real success. I want our children to be proud of our poor farmers. I want the narrative to be changed so that our children want to become researchers, not rich. I want that our country will pay twice, even thrice, to our Bangladeshi researchers and scientists spread all over the world to come back home and train, teach and raise the next generation of researchers. I want ethics, inclusiveness and tolerance to be the first output in every educated being in our country. I want our experts to be chosen not through connections, but through merit.
Many countries have already introduced unprecedented stimulus packages to protect their societies and economies and keep cash flowing to workers and businesses. To maximize the effectiveness of those measures it is essential for governments to work with employers’ organizations and trade unions to come up with practical solutions, which keep people safe and to protect jobs. The whole world is under dark situation. People are suffering from Covid-19 and innumerable lives are lost which is a great loss of human civilization and modernity. Present civilization and modernity are under threat, so those must be saved from disruption. The world must combat and tackle this alarming situation of Covid-19, which is a challenging issue of the global family. However, all necessary preventive and precautionary measures need to be taken to ensure the safety and security of the world family. We are hopeful that after all misery the world will overcome the crisis and people will smile again.
(Dr. Forqan Uddin Ahmed is former DDG of Bangladesh Ansar and VDP)
