Everyone is hoping on someone or another for some kind help during this pandemic, but some worry it might cause their reputations to suffer as others who held them in high esteem may begin to disrespect them once the pandemic is over. They say, ‘I will rather die on my feet than live on my knees.’ But is that the most important thing one should worry about right now?
The world is fighting a war. I know this because I listen to the news. Covid19 has spread across the planet, sending billions of people into lockdown. The numbers of Covid19 related deaths increase daily. As at May 18th, 2020, the world has recorded 31,505 deaths. It is terrible how many families it has wiped out from the surface of the earth- more than the atom bombs of World War II.
Africa, ‘third world countries’ have recorded 2759 deaths. The developed countries in Europe and America have experienced the worst cases. I think of Asia, China, where it first began seems to have past its peak. Our brothers in the Diaspora have been forced to run back to the motherland. Africa seems to be the safest place in the world right now, although some predicted otherwise. The reputation once established matters little to them right now. But is it safe here?
The economy shut down, throws millions of people out of work. The media reports a rise in the cases of unemployment daily. If over 36 million Americans are have filed for unemployment benefits, you can just imagine the figure in Nigeria. More people may lose their jobs.
When I call my friends on the phone, I hear stories of how they are coping. It’s a struggle. Two days ago, a good friend of mine who works with a Micro-finance bank in Lagos calls me to express her fear. She tells me her company retrenched some workers lately, and she fears hers might come soon. There was panic in her voice. I could feel it.
‘Don’t sound like that, Grace,’ I said, though I had stopped working since March. ‘I thought you have been working from home. You must be meeting your targets.’
‘Targets?’ she asked. I was silent. ‘The network has been crazy. I can’t meet up this way.’
‘Hmm!’ That explains everything.
Every day, there is nothing for me to do but pray and probably learn something new online.
Seize this opportunity, they tell me.
‘Where is the data?’ I yell back at them.
It is crazy how one exhausts large amount of data doing nothing. I try applying for jobs although many organizations are closed. It is frustrating how I get interview messages from Proxy Schemes. Those ones have re-strategized; they have studied the economy! They know that many people are desperately in need of jobs, so they send appealing vacancies through job sites. When you apply, you discover what it is. Pathetic!
I don’t leave the house unless it is extremely necessary these days. Like when I have to go to the market. The prices of food items have gone up so fast and I wonder who isn’t corrupt. They literally went up the day the government announced that the country would go into lockdown. Sometimes, I go with my younger sister who is stuck with my mother at my house. We stroll from one stall to another, looking for that holy person who still has a working conscience, and who still has not hiked the prices to make quick gains. Wasted efforts!
Why leverage on a time like this to make things more difficult for people?
Every day, I hear on the news how the government is distributing palliatives to the poorest and most vulnerable in the country. The hair stylist who closed her shop kept her hopes up, but the government palliates never came. I want to believe people are actually getting these items as announced on TV. I want to believe, but for want of evidence; don’t blame me.
I got sad after I received the electricity bill for the months of March and April. The months when the entire country was in lockdown, and DISCOS who said they wanted to assuage the pain on their customers, promised to settle the bills for the period. I am confused. I asked why? Why bring a bill to my doorstep when you promised on TV you would settle it on my behalf? And then a woman answered. The woman whose husband works with the electricity company shouted in frustration.
‘My husband has not been paid.’
I understood her message. We have to pay the utility bills for her husband to get paid.
So, I go back inside feeling disgusted with everything. Then I think about some people. Those who are risking their lives every day, fighting the pandemic while we remain at home grumbling I feel grateful that we still have people who are willing to take the bullet for others. Grace tells me when I wanted to volunteer to sit put. ‘Covid-19 is real!’ I doubt if I can take such a risky risk.
The Bottom Line:
Ones reputation should not be top priority in times like this. As we struggle every day in our own way, let us always support one another regardless of who you might be. If you cannot give out cash, you can give out kind words. Who knows, your next-door neighbors may need someone to talk to. So, rather than focusing on yourself during this period; you can extend love to others no matter how little.
The word Coronalization is a word that I thought about before writing this article, but Zile Huma an Oxford graduate had already published it before I thought of publishing my. According to Huma, Coronalization was coined considering its multi-dimensional and global effects. The word ‘coronalization’ is a combination of ‘corona’ from coronavirus and lization from ‘globalization’.
Surprisingly, some other scholar had used it in his 2006 academic research.
