APRIL 15, 2020
KARO-NA! Listen the Whistle
Spiritually and mythologically, in all religious faiths, one common thing propagated is “time (samay) is the most powerful” , and no one can stop its movement. Even if we have to change the battery of a wall clock, we need to set the needle once again at the present hour only. Hours, when the clock was not working and its needles were standing still, are of no relevance. In easier terms - time lost will never come back. Time brings in something for every specie on this planet. Sometimes we are able to see, feel or react and sometimes we fail to read - the message time brings along with every changing hour. And the interesting part is the event/happening of each hour has connectivity with the hour gone by and the hour coming ahead.
Every hour brings a message and only a few can hear that. We, the people, the governments and kings, and sometimes science also cannot read that message - willingly or unwillingly. Sometimes angels try to convey that message; but we, intoxicated in our ego, power, wealth, authority etc. are unable to decipher the message and we shoot the messenger! Dr. Li Wenliang, a doctor in China, city of Wuhan, died of coronavirus on February 6 at the age of 34. In December 2019, he warned people in close contacts of some strange virus rampaging through the hospitals in Wuhan. In a span of 4 weeks, this virus has become a monstrous killer across the world and leaving a tail of destruction in every continent. Li on December 30, 2019 sent a message to a group of fellow doctors warning them about a possible outbreak of an illness that resembled Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in Wuhan. This message was a private one, where he requested the fellow doctors to protect themselves from infection. Days later, he was accused of making false statements that disrupted the public order. After his death, he became a hero in China when his warnings proved true and he became a martyr. After his passing, people began to gather, virtually, at his last post on Weibo, the Chinese twitter. Some call it China’s Wailing Wall, a reference to the Western Wall in Jerusalem where people leave written prayers in the cracks. Interestingly, sensing public anger, the Chinese Government ordered an investigation and the findings record “Li had not disrupted public order, and that he was a professional who fought bravely and made sacrifices”. The messenger is not alive to accept the apology.
Another tale in Chinese stories is a daily diary of a Chinese woman Fang Fang, who wrote a daily chronicle of life and death in her home city of Wuhan that gave rise to a global pandemic. She called herself a witness, highlighting the bravery of doctors, street cleaners and neighbours helping neighbours, while vowing to hold to account officials who let the virus spread. These instances are a powerful message of time, which China failed to acknowledge in spite of getting it in time. And we are watching the future hour now!
In another part of the world, Iraq banned reuters for three months after a UK based news agency reported that the number of cases of coronavirus infections in the country is much higher than the government admits. The Iraqui Government responded harshly to the report and fined reuters a sum of $20,000 and demanded an apology for “putting social security at risk”. How fragile is the national security of a country!
History is replete with examples where humanity chose to ignore that one message and future generations were made to pay for such expensive ignorance! We all are in the middle of the coronavirus crisis and acting on messages can save many human lives and sizable economic resources.