When the world remembered to live…

Lockdown, shutdown, self-isolation, quarantine, sounds familiar? This has been the reality of almost all nations of the world since the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus is sweeping through the world and is leaving a lot of devastation in its wake.

Where is thy sting oh death!

There is one thing all humans have in common, whether rich or poor, young or old, orange, brown, white or black – Death. We will all die someday, the prayer is that it’ll be when we’re old and have lived a fulfilling life. I’ll like to take a moment to remember the ones who have fallen as a result of this deadly virus. I commiserate with families that have lost loved ones to the Corona Virus. I pray you find peace and comfort at this difficult time 🙏🏽. To those fighting the virus, I wish you a speedy recovery.

With death polls rising all over the world, I want us to draw our gaze away from the polls and bad news for a little bit and look at the few good things that have come out of the lockdown.

Family life

I’m sure most of you would have come across one or two videos of different families participating in one challenge or the other. I’ve seen posts of dads sharing how clueless they were about what their children get involved in when they are home. I’ve also seen videos of families playing board games, dancing, pranking each other etc. All of the above excites me so much as these are things that two months back some people won’t be caught dead doing. I’m sure most children will be thrilled to have mum and dad at home, oh yes that’s a rare occurrence in some households. Hopefully it’ll do some good for some troubled relationships too.

The extended family is also benefitting as people are checking up on their folks more often now. Families now do ‘face time’ or WhatsApp calls with parents and siblings every other day. The family chats are more active and lively, quizzes, interactive puzzles etc are been shared on social media platforms keeping people busy and more connected more than ever.

I come from Nigeria, the most populous nation in Africa and there is a very popular city in Nigeria called Lagos. Lagos is known as the commercial capital of Nigeria and a city that never sleeps. It is popular for its traffic jams which make workers leave their houses as early as 5 am and some don’t even get back home till 9 pm or later. I have always wondered how people can live like that with little or no break, all of a sudden, the lock-down has forced such people to stop and relax.

Let’s not leave out more home cooking and fewer eat-outs. Oh yes! its the return of ‘the family dinner’ 😊 – restaurants and fast food shops are closed in most places anyway so people have no choice but to cook at home. Families are actually eating together and sharing chores.

Friendships and other Relationships

The lockdown has also had a wonderful effect on friendships as people have more time to check on each other and catch up on any of the many social media platforms. New relationships are also being formed especially with the different challenges that keep coming up, a good example is this don’t rush challenge featured on BBC with British African doctors, some of them actually just met but they enjoyed putting the challenge together and have intentions of keeping the relationships going. We have seen different versions from mums, dads and different professions from female wrestlers, dancers, make-up artists, event planners etc. This is strengthening professional and community bonds like never before.

Nature

Someone else is benefiting immensely from the drastic reduction in human activities, yes you guessed right, Earth. Mother nature is having a real good time. Seismologists have reported that their sensors are twitching less as there are less vibrations making it easier to detect earthquakes. Air is less polluted because of a down in greenhouse gases emissions.

Then there are increased wildlife sightings, May I point out that the work of environmentalist has a lot to do with the wildlife sightings – less hunting, less poaching, habitat improvements etc have contributed a lot to improve wildlife all over the world. However, since the lockdown, there have been more sightings of animals close to cities and villages.

Sightings of swans in Milan, dolphins in Cagliari, clear water of Vernice (no gondolas or boats) and locals are reporting the return of fishes to the canal (this could also be that clearer waters is enabling them to see the marine life better) etc.

This all shows that when people reduce pressure on nature, nature bounces back. Nature has a wonderful way of restoring itself. This is also very good for humans as we depend on nature for a lot – clean water and air easily come to mind.

Free apps and live entertainment

Another amazing experience is the free access given to everyone by on-line-educational resources and book stores. For a moment, the world is in sync, we are all fighting this scourge together and businesses and individuals are coming together with a helping hand, for once forgetting profits and sales. Artiste all over the world are having live sessions, so are fitness instructors, dance instructors, a lot of on-line courses have also been opened for everyone.

Even Zoos are not left out as a good number of Zoos have opened their zoos for free virtual tours. It’s a fight for the survival of the human race and it’s nice to see how everyone is chipping in, in their own way. People are donating money to their countries and states, neighbourhoods are coming together to provide food and other essentials for the less privileged around them, people are looking out for each other, just fantastic.

Conclusion

Did someone say a boom? Behind every dark cloud is a silver lining right, it looks like when we come out of this (and we will) after counting our losses and sharing our grief, we will then be able to appreciate how the earth healed. We will celebrate many births, mark my words! But, not just human births, the animal world will also witness an unprecedented surge. Hopefully, this will benefit our animals going into extinction.

In the midst of the chaos brought by COVID-19, we’ve been reminded of what really matters in life. They are the little things, a quick call or message, a helping and, a kind gesture etc. What a great thing to experience, to see the world stop to breathe, to see humanity remember to be human. It’s sad though that it took a pandemic to do this.

Let’s not forget to count our blessings as we weather this storm together, be strong, be bold and have faith. See you on the other side.

Please be safe, wash your hands and please stay home. 🙏🏽

Aunty Lulu

Just one more video for my ladies 😋