Some don’t need a title.
A story not about the past or the present, but of the future
We’ve all read the heart breaking stories of people losing loved ones, and entire families being wiped out due to COVID. This is not about that. Its a story about loss, anger & rage, and the future.
You do need to know where this rage stems from, and how the future shall be changed. For change, it must.
I lost a loved one, a mentor, father figure, a doctor who refused to give up on his patients, and continued serving them, in what they called the first wave of Covid. We lost him to COVID they said. It’s close to a year now, and I still miss his presence. I don’t even want to dwell on what his wife, his two children must feel.
Today I lost kin to COVID. They said it was COVID that caused this. I’m told that the system is also responsible for most of what is going on around us in India. It’s COVID, and a failing ‘system’.
I now know better.
I know that COVID doesn’t kill people. People kill people.
I know that the so called System doesn’t kill people. People kill people.
I also know that there is actually no ‘system’ — It is just an arbitrary name for a arbitrary set of patterns that people follow. We’ve all known this all along. We just like the label we gave it — “system”, for that makes it sound less arbitrary and more dependable. Something we can trust with our lives.
A Nation doesn’t get to call itself ‘developed’ when it reaches a certain GDP Goal, or for that matter, a percentage of educated population. Toll roads, swanky airports, Software technology parks and Satellite Tech don’t make us developed. Nor does the best in defense equipment, or a seat at the UNSC.
Until we get rid of the apathy we’ve ingrained in our DNA — where each death is just a statistic, be it from Covid, or be it from ‘everyday’ events like road accidents (badly designed roads?) , malnutrition (need I explain?) , absence of basic healthcare infrastructure (again, no explanation needed i’m sure) , non-availability of affordable health care, or just something as simple as no access to clean drinking water… We have no RIGHT to pat ourselves on our collective backs.
We have failed.
And if you think COVID is a flash in the pan, think again. Remember SARS? That was 20 years ago.. Nature shall throw curve balls at us — again, and again.
While the US starts vaccinating its 12+ year old population, our 18+ have been told to wait. Because waiting builds patience, and immunity. Of course, if it doesn’t kill you first.
In case this sounds like a tirade against our political class, let me be clear, it is not. It is against all of us. Including me.
A handful of elected representatives WILL NOT decide if my loved ones live or die. I have not given them the power, nor will I ever. A ‘system’ that clearly was designed just to create jobs for the ineffective will NOT decide that either.
I don’t know about all of you, those few who read this and most who don’t. But I’ve had enough.
I will rip this so called system up, and build one that won’t sit idle if even one human being under its care suffers.
I’ll build one, or die trying.
RSA
23rd of May, 2021
