going to use against this invisible invader as it is invading our lives, taking our loved ones, disturbing our routines, toppling economies, and handicapping our mental ability to deal with it all? The reaction of the State of Qatar has shielded its citizens and residents as best it could. While the world was hoarding food and supplies and fighting over toilet paper, the population in Qatar maintained its cool, receiving government assurances, daily updates, and effective measures and precautions. We managed to overcome the early panic which engulfed the world. Panicking during a calamity is a calamity in itself. The initial response of denial worldwide proved disastrous and helped spread COVID-19. Distorted facts, manipulating figures, and dismissing a major threatening disease as just some “seasonal flu” had long-term detrimental repercussions for the whole human race. As historian Yuval Noah Harari elegantly explains it: The real antidote to epidemics isn’t isolation and segregation, it is information and cooperation. The big advantage of humans over viruses is the ability to cooperate effectively. A corona virus in China and a corona virus in the USA cannot swap tips about how to infect humans. But China can teach the USA many valuable lessons about corona virus and how to deal with it. More than that, China can actually send experts and equipment to directly help the USA. The viruses cannot do anything like that. 17 We cannot change situations or circumstances but we can change our outlook and behavior towards them. Self-isolation is a time for self- introspection. For individuals and for governments. In this busy world, where we have the illusionary feeling of being connected virtually to the whole world, we have lost the connection to our souls. This period is a golden opportunity to raise our diminished spiritual quotients and to come out of the vortex of blinding materialism and capitalism. Just like the virus mutates, do we humans too need to mutate our mindset and lifestyle for the greater common good? Are we ready to take the plunge
17 https://www.inkstonenews.com/health/coronavirus-crisis-human-failure-yuval-noah-harari-says/article/3078284
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