“Maybe the earth is healing itself”

Russell Ramil

Head chef, (OMAN)

After the abuse it has been through, maybe nature, maybe this earth, must be healing itself

I have seen the best and worst during my life, but nothing like the COVID-19. Nothing at all. This pandemic has shaken me to the very roots. Everywhere I turn to, there is utter chaos. Switch on the TV and you may feel as you are seeing some horror movie as the news readers grimly talk of millions being infected and several hundred thousands dead. I used to see such things in movies, but now I am seeing it happening in real life. What a crazy year this 2020 has turned out to be?

The COVID-19 pandemic has come as a flash flood tossing our dreams in its whirling spread like they were mere straws and taking many along with it. You blink, you pinch yourself; you shake your head, no, it is not just a nightmare, this is for real. It is happening and we better believe it.

Has it spared anyone? I don’t know. We can say that the powerful and the wealthy may have escaped some of the horrors the virus has wreaked and they might be slightly better off than the rest of us. Especially the ones like us who have been financially affected. I am not being trite, but I think a wealthy person may not be facing the same situation as I am. Ever since the virus forced itself into our lives, people like me are without proper funds to live. I am one of the many indirect victims of COVID-19.

And I would have managed that, I would not make a sound about it, but then when I don’t get money, my family also doesn’t. I haven’t been able to send money to my family and that is what totally breaks my heart. I honestly don’t know what to do; whom to turn to. What would my family back home be doing?

Yes, in times of trouble, you rest your fears in the lap of God; you rely on your faith and you believe that all of this current crisis will end and we will get up and be strong again in every way, spiritually, mentally, physically and financially.

You would think that since I am talking about only my problems that I don’t care about others who are suffering, maybe even more than I do. I hate to see other people suffering too. I am very sad that mankind is suffering. The pandemic has not targeted anyone specifically, but many have been very unlucky. The unlucky ones must be thinking that the virus has targetted them. People are dealing with loss of lives, and bigger disasters than just not having money. It has clearly shown us how fragile life is.

Suddenly, a new but horrific cloud has enveloped us and everything around has changed for the worse. Work in many areas has come to a grinding halt, economies are spiralling and so many of us are confined to our homes with nothing to do, especially those like us who have no other means. With businesses shut down, travel suspended to many countries, life for many has come to a halt and some of us are still in a state of shock. We cannot believe that this is happening to us.

I, like many out there, wonder, dear God, when things will get back to normal. Maybe it won’t go back to what it was, but can this crisis end at least? Can we pick up the pieces and be allowed to live a decent life?

Is it wrong to ask that? Is it wrong to expect a future without a crisis at the least? Could we at least get out this fearsome stage where everything is going wrong?

Again, maybe the earth is healing itself. We have ravaged earth, nature and the environment to such an extent that not only pandemics, even other horrible crises can happen. We have abused what we have been given free and now it is nature’s way of taking it all away from us.

Maybe, after this, we will also heal.