I have been a student at Coronavirus School in the last few months, not because I wanted to but, because it compelled me. But, despite my misgivings about the tight corner the virus has pushed us all, it has been months of learning that nothing should be taken as settled.
Before the virus reared its ugly head, I could sneeze anywhere and expect “bless you” from those around me. I could cough and expect sympathy or even empathy. It never occurred to me that a man would shout on his daughter and order her to avoid me all because I sneezed in a supermarket. “That guy just sneezed,” he screamed at the daughter to get her to refrain from entering the supermarket. As I passed by the daughter, I laughed. But the message in retrospect is: Never take anything for granted.
I have learnt that if you give men and women the choice to die by virus or by hunger, they will easily choose to die by virus while hoping some special anointing will come to their rescue and make them pass through the shadow of death with no evil befalling them. All you need to believe this is our disobedience of the protocols against the virus.
I have also learnt that things you think are settled can give way. Or what other lessons are there when men and women lose their jobs, not for incompetence, but just because their employers can no longer pay? I know people who were making a kill from our owambe culture. Who could have ever known that our Saturdays could be complete without weddings, funerals and what have you? The absence of parties has crippled owners of event centres, social diary television programmes and caterers.