Anyway, what is life?

The on-going COVID19 crisis has upended every notion of our familiarity with science and well laid out human processes. What was considered a success yesterday is no longer helping us navigate the difficult times of today. The deadly Corona virus has brought most of the developed nations to its knees — a feat which wasn’t achieved by all the scheming and stockpiling of nuclear weapons of their enemies. The rest of the world meanwhile tries to figure out what life is all about — as even the little they enjoyed so far now seems wafer thin.

A wise man once said, “when life throws you a lemon, use it to make a lemonade.” But what are you supposed to do in an indefinite lockdown — surrounded by a looming economic crisis? Convert your home into a lemonade factory? Well, for a starter, this doesn’t sound to be a bad idea, as summer approaches and a million more returning to bed hungry every night. However, the right approach during unprecedented times like this would be to retrospect and reorganize our life’s priorities and goals.

Tell me, did years of stashing money selfishly helped you to buy a packet of Maggi noodles or a face mask, which now seems to disappear from every supermarket ? Tell me, did your 3 years of college education, which taught you how to make a living, teach you how to handle the fear of death? Tell me, did your years of corporate experience planning for your customer’s needs proactively gave you any insights on when this virus would vanish or how to approach your next "annual planning" meeting? Tell me, did your cumulative years of experience, wisdom and myriad friends better prepare you to handle loneliness and your anxious thought of being fired from your job?

The truth is I am as perplexed and in doldrums just as you are. However, I do see a silver lining around this dark cloud of uncertainty. My inability to roam freely in this world right now has enabled me to expand my boundaries of imagination. Yes, this lockdown period has been a God given gift to see what was invisible to me earlier and thereby re-focus my life’s priorities and goals. Mark Twain once said, “There isn't time, so brief is life, for bickerings, apologies, heartburnings, callings to account. There is only time for loving, and but an instant, so to speak, for that.”

Hence, I now realize loving others is more rewarding than loving myself (as I am unable to help myself). I now realize titles and positions of authority are not really powerful and useful always (grocery shopkeepers and sanitation workers are in fact more useful). I now realize real (not virtual) friendship is more enduring than money (money isn’t able to bail me out of loneliness, but friends do). I now realize life is short and also a gift of God and I should not take advantage of time and every experience I go through in life. Finally, I now realize the invisible, eternal things (concerning God) are more important than the visible, temporary things (of this Earth).