Open Letter To Coronavirus

Covid-19,

I sometimes lay down imagining you to be some kind of being (a figure, a beast, a monster, a mass of something) sitting in a grandiose hall, and distributing stuff – evil venomous stuff to all parts of the world.

Sometimes I imagine you having many slaves who have invisible wings and can fly anywhere. Sometimes its just you working alone with a mighty sneeze which, once you let rip, can travel thousands of miles.

But….somehow you are there. Determined to cause evil.

When you started late last year, you set up in China. You struck many people with your venom. The world started to take notice. And you started to bask in it, enjoying every moment of attention you were getting.

Then you started engaging in mind games – almost like Jose Mourinho will do against an opponent manager in football. He comes out in the media and says ‘oh, that game against Arsenal, we know they will come out attacking, so I am going to set my team up defensively so that we can soak their pressure and catch them on the break’. Jose knows that (at least in the days when it used to work), the opponent manager (Wenger) will read these comments and try to outfox him by setting his team up in any other way but attacking.

But alas, this was exactly what Jose was anticipating – a change of tactic so that he can set his own team up the very way he wanted to. And it worked. We call it mind games.

Now in no way can I compare you to Jose Mourinho – top manager and one of my mentors in personal philosophy and coaching (till he pitched camp with the enemy! But love him I still do). He is no destroyer, nothing at all like you.

I just had to use my football to put my point across.

Anyway, back to your wicked self. You set up. And you started these mind games. The moment scientists said you were like what we have had before (bird flu, swine flu, SARS and all), and that you were restricted to China, you let out a big sneeze, and your rubbish caught the rest of Far East Asia; to prove that you can’t only operate your vice in China.

The rest of Asia caught your muck, and again, experts said ‘oh wow. It has become an Asian problem’.

You didn’t like that, so somehow, you let out a massive one….and Italy caught a huge chunk of your muck. How? Heaven knows. Brought by Chinese travelers? You succeeded in leaving us confounded.

And you were not done. You struck, Italy, then Spain, then France, Germany, the UK and most, if not every European nation.

Somehow, because you seem to be insatiable, you were not done.

Donald Trump in America then said that, to protect his citizens from catching what you have given them in China, Asia and Europe, he was going to stop incoming guests from Europe and China.

Too late, I think. Not only had the US admitted a few, you also let rip. A massive one – WALLOP-CHEW! Big sneeze again, in the direction of America.

I am sure even you did not know that you had that much in you.

You blew America away with a single heave. And today, many of your dangerous stuff are all over – even in the air.

How pleased are you with yourself?

You have created panic, fear and chaos in every part of the world.

Your venom is not just causing illnesses that people recover from. It is taking lives. People are dying daily, in thousands, because of what you have put in our atmosphere.

And you have succeeded in becoming, for the first time ever, the most common enemy of the world over, with not one ally.

In times of war, there are always two sides. Even in World Wars. Terrorism has two sides and one side is always against the other. There is social war – the rich against the oppressed. So from time immemorial, the world has always been divided.

But in you, no one can support. It is the whole world versus you. Wow! You must have exceeded even your own self, whoever you are!

You have brought people down on their knees. Through the illnesses, hospitals are screaming because in most countries they can’t cope. In some countries, morgues are overflowing.

So people have been told to stay indoors – in most parts of the world – to avoid catching the venom of your muck anytime you sneeze. No one knows how many sneezes you do, or how many times you do in a day. But the numbers of your victims are growing, everywhere.

You have refused to separate class, gender, race.

Even when some scientists said your spit can’t survive the heat of Africa, you dug your horrible nose and snorted in the direction of Africa. And people started catching the disease and dying there.

They said only people with underlying health issues will suffer fatalities from your poison – nope! You struck down fully fit and able people. Most unforgivably, you hit health workers – doctors and nurses who were hitherto healthy and were working trying to save others from you – you struck many. Why? Why?? Why???

They said most young people are naturally immune to the dangers and intensity of what you’ve distributed. You glee, and decide to strike down youngsters just to prove your point.

Covid19, you have wreaked havoc. You have turned us into a world of fear. We now fear what will happen. You have tried to make us scared even of each other. Closeness is now a problem. A hug is taboo.

Economies are sprawling. Jobs are being lost. All because of you.

You have made a mockery of the words ‘planning’ and ‘diary’. You have put paid to many sporting events and calendars have been tossed out the window.

You are getting at people in many more ways than one. And it is crippling.

But hey….on the flip side, you probably didn’t plan this, but there are some good parts too.

You are bringing out the best in the human race. You are allowing people to show their compassionate sides. We are human, after all, and we can show it.

The job our health workers are doing is mammoth. But what is more massive is the fact that through you, the world has come to appreciate them more, and it will never be the same again.

The kindness people are showing to each other – checking up on one another, supporting the vulnerable, providing whatever assistance we can do each other – are all as a result of what you have done.

I refuse to give you CREDIT for this, but mankind IS better due to your wickedness.

Now, at this point, we want to rebel. You have had your fill. And it is enough. Enough, they say, is enough.

Now we want our lives back! Give us back our lives!

We have learnt from your wickedness. We have seen what you are capable of. We have stayed away from each other. We will continue to do so for the period while your venomous spit settles down and fades off. We will obey government and health authorities’ directives on social distancing.

We will do all we can to support each other because you are a common enemy.

We have a common resolve – and believe me, collectively we have the strength and ability and commitment to – and that is to beat you. We will beat you, COVID19.

And most of all, we will not relent until we get back, what was freely given to us from birth – OUR OWN LIVES!