What we should learn from Covid-19

Between October and November 2019 a new dangerous virus infected the first human victim, and by March 11, 2020 it was officially declared a global pandemic. It took Covid-19 less than 6 months to eat the world.

We were unprepared to say the least, most Countries failed their citizen in responding to this pandemic. Communication is probably one of the main issues: official statements initially downplayed the danger of the virus, there were conflicting news about the efficacy of masks and even now, almost 2 years later, there is still much disinformation circling around vaccines.

Why it happened?

The virus need to infect new hosts to better adapt to the human organism, that's how it learns and evolves. One effective measure is therefore isolation. A few Countries decided to go over this route, impose strict lockdowns and in around a couple of months managed to clean their territory from the virus. However, when you close down a Country in this globalized world, it will hit hard on the economy, some more than others.

Then most Countries decided that their economy was more important than the wellbeing of their own citizens.

But what is the economy, anyway?

According to the dictionary, it is

the process or system by which goods and services are produced, sold, and bought in a country or region

Thus it is a process about trading goods and making Money. It is something we have set in place, a fictitious process that now has more value than ourselves.

Some people even managed to make a lot of Money over the lives of people by selling masks, oxygen and sanitizer at crazy high prices. In the moment of need, those who could help preferred to hoard even more wealth instead of lending a hand.

People preferred Money over the lives of human beings.

Let that sink for a moment.

Is this really a news, though? The history of capitalistic societies is full of such atrocities. Every day we can see the staggering difference between the poor and the rich. Western Countries in the past had the audacity of calling their own society as "developed" and went on a quest to let the other "undeveloped" Countries mimic their own absurdities.

The Covid-19 pandemic showed us the aftermath of such development. It demonstrated how much this globalized world is divided, how much we are morally isolated and weak. We can reach everyone and be everywhere thanks to our technology, yet we are more alone today than ever. We have lost the sense of community, our sense of kinship. We have been uprooted.

The upside of it is that there is still hope and as usual many people tried their best to help others, they organized and cared to those in need. In the end spontaneous organization proved more effective than some official governments.

If only the owners of the world would have chosen to save their kin instead of the god we call Money, then Covid-19 could have been eradicated in a couple of months through global collaboration. That's what I would expect from a globalized world: global collaboration; instead we have global toxic competition that serves none but a few.

Covid-19 vaccine distribution is another example of such heartless competition where the poorest Countries are left behind. Don't be fooled though, those Countries aren't poor just because they are "inferior" or whatever they want you to believe. Their misfortune is the result of years of wars and exploitation by those very Countries who label them as "underdeveloped".

This is yet another proof that capitalistic societies do not scale. They are built on a foundation of constant, infinite growth and even though the world is big, it isn't infinite. Resources get already depleted faster than they are able to regenerate, in 2021 we burned through all of them by July 29. And we are consuming more, and more, and more, with no regards to this beautiful planet we call home. The worst part of it is that we are transforming all these precious resources into waste, useless garbage.

We often like to say that we are "destroying the world", but guess what, this planet will keep orbiting the sun for billions of years more. It doesn't care what we do. What we are actively destroying, day by day, it's ourselves. We are creating an environment we can't survive.

What would be your reaction if you would visit your friend's house and it is full of garbage? What if they then offer you a glass of filthy water? What if their air conditioner is constantly emitting polluted air?

That's were we are today. That's how good we are taking care of our house.

It is up to us to clean up this mess, so that the future guests will be able to see the beauty hidden under our own madness.

I can't do this alone. You can't do this alone. Nobody can do this alone. Even worse if we want to do it while competing against each other.

The only way is to do it all together, through collaboration.

Let's clean this mess, we can do it!


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