Covid-19 virus’ epidemic -and become pandemic- in some
countries, especially China, Japan, South Korea, Iran, and Italia creates a
paranoid mentality and paranoid action of our daily life. In Germany, for
example, some people bit a Japanese train passenger because of them suspecting
him having the virus; some Chinese are being bullied and discriminated because
of that of virus. On the other side, some countries are banning the infected
countries to enter their country. For instances, I just got the news that the
Indonesian Government banns travelers from China, South Korea, Iran, and Italy
to enter the country. What is going on here?
Many medicines starting from traditional medicines to the
modern laboratory-made-medicine, try to calm down human paranoid of this virus
by offering their products that prevent the virus; many advice by WHO
directors, scientists, scholars, government officers, NGOs directors, religious
leaders, and even some self-made experts try to give solution how to prevent us
from the virus. Some people honestly try to assist others with their own
resources and knowledge about the virus but others are using this situation to
make money. I read a news about the lucking of maskers in some countries and
how expensive they are.
Moreover, this situation also enter to influence the rituals
in religions. Catholic church, for example, in USA the bishops are banning its
faithful to receive the Holy Eucharist on tongue; in England, catholic bishops
requested the faithful to avoid holy water and not to receive communion with
the chalice, even the public veneration of relics and the veneration of the
cross on Good Friday should not be kissed and touched; in Malaysia, a catholic
diocese regulated to cut down church meeting and to have a meeting not more
than an hour; even the diocese toke a strong decision to immediate suspension
of penitential service; and many other dioceses around the world has done the
same. What is going on here? Is the Church doing justice to its faithful by
regulating those practices in its rituals? Or is it in the name of preventing
the faithful to get the virus and taking the health precautions, the Church put
those regulations?
Are we crazy and paranoid of this tiny virus, which only
infects very small numbers of a Chinese citizens comparing to a billion of its population
and a tiny number of Italian -which at the moment, there are 148 cases- of
around 60 million of its population? And so many under the two digits cases of
million people? What do we fear of? Do we fear of the virus because of its fast
spreading, of its NOT having an anti-virus, and of its killing ability? Or we
are afraid of the collapse of our world economy?
I don’t belittle the impact of this virus but we have to see
this situation in appropriate ways, to deal it wisely and not to bring us into a kind of phobia, which will stop us from every activity and everything that are useful and necessary for
our life and society.
Why do not we fear of the poverty in this world, which is the
main cause of many children and women died and millions of people who are
hungry and luck of clean water and necessary needs for them to live, especially
in the poor countries? Why are not we afraid of the human emotionally,
spiritually, and emotionally sickness around us, which is showing up in signs like stress, depression, suicidal thinking
and behaviors, anomaly attitudes among our youth, drugs that kill many
people and affect millions of life? Why do not we fear of human made disasters,
such as creating massive and powerful atomic, nuclear arsenals and rockets, bio-weapons,
which kill millions of people in this world and fear of cutting the trees and of destroying
our natural environments that cause disaster and global warming and changes
of climate?
So why do we paranoid about the virus and allow others to
kill and destroy us? Why can now we prepare and do the same precautions how to
prevent our world, our society, our country, such as we have done to prevent
ourselves from the Covid-19? Can we do the same, to prevent poverty and all the
spiritual and emotional illness that also destroy us?
Finally, we should not allow this virus to control us but we
should control it. I think at the moment the actual virus is not strong but the
spirit of this virus has destroying our world. It is like Satan. This virus has
metamorphosed to become a spirit that brings fear and paranoid in our world and
our society. This spirit creates more damage than real virus. This spirit has
been trying to destroying the humanity, if we allow it to be. Therefore, let us
focus on the Spirit of God that unites us and brings life to our world. Let us
Hope.
