What kind of world will our children inherit?
As we sit at home with more time on our hands than we know what to do with; wanting to go out, when once we might have wanted to stay home; not really wanting to hear the news from the UK or Spain about C19 and the havoc it is creating, but watching anyway; we can’t help but regard this phenomenon as something surreal. Because it is something difficult to believe, although it’s very real; or even understand fully not having been in this situation before, we feel that time is taunting us right now.
The silent pressure of time makes one entertain too many thoughts which eventually can mess with our brain and lead to stress.
You must de clutter and accept your enforced solitude gracefully. If only with the thought in mind that although it may appear that time may be against us, but at the same time it also allows for scientists to arrive at a solution for this wicked malady. There will always be challenges out there for brilliant minds to decipher novel strains, and succeed in their endeavour for the good of mankind. Many of us who can’t help thinking too much, are gradually coming to the conclusion that this may become a way of life from now on. Not the “being restricted to your homes” that is, but the pending threat of something similar happening in the world of tomorrow; and not so far away from this particular one.
Background noise
There once was a very popular song sung by Doris Day; written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans and published in 1956; which she introduced in the Alfred Hitchcock film” The man who knew too much.” The title of which was “Que Sera Sera” ie whatever will be will be. Because the spectre of climate change is ever-present background noise, on our bulletins, on radio, TV and the Press, we can’t fail but note that the future, unlike the lyrics of the song, is ours to see; the realization that we are living in an inhospitable planet.
We saw Climate change as something that was worsening, but mainly affecting the creatures that live beneath our waters, and the animals on land. Cutting down trees in the Amazon provides such good business; fires that raze acres and acres of land, can increase the fertility of the soil; intensive poultry and pig farming methods which many countries practice.
All and each one of these is of real concern and has eventually led to the spread of diseases. And it’s not like we have not had warnings in the past. We don’t even need to go back as far 1918; when an outbreak of avian flu known as the Spanish flu, infected a third of the worlds population; killing more people than in the First World War; an estimated fifty million. Just last year we had a close shave when one hundred million pigs died from swine flu, or were culled due to these practices mentioned; because they are methods which further heighten the risks.
What we never gave a thought to was the fact that by ignoring their plight to some extent, or not paying to much heed to it; or even treating them with disdain, there would come a time when they themselves would take their revenge on us; when particularly hazardous strains jump the species barrier from animals to humans; as has happened with Covid-19. Present deaths have been exacerbated by high levels of pollution; poor air quality where respiratory illnesses prove deadly.
Inheritance
The gluttonous developed world has all but erased the time when we might have existed in easy harmony with nature; which is fast slinking into the past. What are the world’s children inheriting here? “When I’m bigger” can be a phrase that now rings alarm bells for the older generation. Prompting us to ask ourselves, what kind of world are our children going to inherit? What state will our world be in by the time they are our age if we don’t start acting quickly?
When I look back to the period of my growing up and the childhood I so much enjoyed it acquires an almost dreamlike quality; a moment in my life that was if you like, outside time. I truly believe that in this present time we live in when our actions, driven by compassion, or even a desire to express solidarity, has people coming together in so many different ways to try and help others in need; to comfort them, or reassure them that things can get better; let us hope that this sets an example for countries to learn lessons from their people.
It is of the utmost importance that they be more prepared in their ability to prevent, detect and respond at national and international level, to such health crisis in the future. That they start coordinating within themselves and between each other; including the wealthier countries, in developing responses that can coordinate and act in the face of a global pandemic, such as this which has found some countries wanting.
The responsibility of the future
So, in the comfort of your home, when some relax and others work to make meals for their loved ones which get collected in front of closed doors; when some have had knitting wool delivered to their homes and placed in bags similarly on door handles; when easels have been set up and painters paint in an effort to express their emotions, and where keypads click away under hungry fingers, ensuring that truth and reality do not end up escaping underneath the words like insects scuttling away; we will give a thought to those who are affected, and those who are looking after them, and pray a quiet prayer. Let us also think of one man who appears to coordinate all; balancing Brexit and Covid 19; under whose tenure the weight and responsibility of the future of Gibraltar and the Gibraltarians at one of the most trying of times in our history has fallen; and wish him and his team more grease to their elbow.
23-03-2020 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR