One of the saddest scenes I have seen on TV lately was that of a newly built cemetery said to have been set up especially for victims of COVID. The place was very green, very fresh and seemed to project life, but beneath it were the bodies of once lively people, some young and others old, who once had to laugh and enjoy the company of friends and relatives, many of them also buried now in the same graveyard. One could just imagine the grief and the tears their departure had caused, and how many others of those who had mourned them had also followed.
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I do not know if we, too, have similar scenes in our country. As many of us may have noted, our media has not been very forthcoming in giving out statistics on such matters. Perhaps the newsprint types have been publishing them, I mean the national ones, but perhaps it is better that we do not know. We have little enough to entertain and amuse us these days. Even reports of a vaccine coming soon cannot sufficiently comfort us, because what is expected will be enough for only two million doses – and how many millions of Filipinos are there?
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But people all over the world are not all as afraid of the coronavirus as those in some countries. In the United States for instance, many disregarded warnings and went on celebrating Thanksgiving Day by travelling – and by air at that. For me, the last conveyance I would take if I were to travel, would be an airplane. Imagine being cooped up in a limited space for hours, with no wind or fresh air coming in.
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However we have some consolation in the reports that the COVID plague has been easing somewhat in our country. Me, I suspect it is because we are more obedient to instructions on how to keep ourselves free from infection. If some people seem to be paranoid in their approach to it, good for them. They are more likely to survive than those who rely on odds and gamble with their very lives.
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Anyway, we can divert ourselves by watching the antics of an American politician who cannot seem to accept defeat. Ah, it must be heartbreaking to leave the comfort, convenience and prestige of the White House, but their people have spoken. After all, Donald Trump had already served as president, and maybe his own home is just as plush as the Presidential residence. Why can’t he accept the fact that even the states he had counted on had rejected him?
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There are people who say that politics is an incurable disease. But we have many who know when it is time to go, and are admired for their decisions. For surely, it is better to have your constituents regret when you leave, than to curse you when you overstay. I do not know if, as of this writing, Trump had already come to his senses, but the incoming president, his successor, Joe Biden, seems to be a patient fellow. And just between us, I think their hairdos had some effect on voters, too.
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Aren’t you glad you don’t own an airline? Recent reports say that it is the worst hit in the transportation business. They are projected to lose some $157 BILLION this year, and even if you are the richest operator, that would still hurt. And, by the way, a lot of travelers must be avoiding them, too. But I’m sure they have devised means to cope with that, or they have stopped flying by now. Can proper distancing be observed in such a small area? Of course they must have found a way of coping with it or they must have stopped flying by now.
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This should be very welcome news to our people. It seems that the COVID is on the downturn lately, and let us all hope and pray that this is an indication that it is on its way out already. But we should never let our guard down and parents, especially, should check their kids and the company they keep. If warnings about COVID do not scare you, think of the mortality rate even in the most advanced countries like the United States and Germany. In a lot of ways, we are luckier than them. But let’s be very, very careful, and not push our luck.
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But science marches on, and now the latest development is a plan for human beings to visit the planet Mars. After having succeeded in sending man to the moon, someone may soon land in Mars and make history. Will they find it habitable? Is it free from diseases and calamities? What about that moon landing in 1967? I don’t think I have heard anything more on the progress of those findings there. For sure COVID has not yet invaded it, but can humans survive there? Or will it be like paradise, the original home of Adam and Eve? Sometimes this quarantine isolation gives me the funniest ideas!*
