19th June, 2020
Dear World,
I am writing this letter to inform you that we have lost to the novel Corona virus and now it is celebrating its victory by spreading ever faster than before. Looking around me, I have noticed that we are doing everything favorable for Covid-19 to spread and not even caring about it. When I ask people they always say, “We have to live with the virus and make it a part of our life!” Then, I think to myself, ‘Is it my friend that I have to live with it?’ Despite seeing, the numbers rise, people do not understand that this virus can affect them, until they or someone they know are infected and by that time, it is too late. The situation is only getting worse by the day.
Double standards and hypocrisy is rising among people in this time more than ever before. The virus is becoming more of an excuse of avoiding things. People can go to beaches but if they have to go to work they say, “I can’t take the risk of coming in contact with so many people by going to the office.” Protests are happening because of which the virus is spreading very fast and the cases are skyrocketing.
People are losing hope and so are governments. The governments are removing lockdowns or not even doing it as they are concerned about the country’s economy and hence, confused. This letter is by no means a generalization and I know that there are people who are taking this matter very seriously especially the elderly. The only problem is that those people are less in number and I respect you if you are one of that person. I also do not blame anyone or any government for this, it is maybe that we all have become mentally exhausted and want a break from hearing all about the virus but using it as an excuse would not be right.
I am not writing this to make us all feel that we have lost all hope and can do nothing but despair. I am writing this to tell everyone that though we have lost, we always have a chance to convert that loss into a victory. This can only happen by uniting and behaving not as a person of any religion, country, social order, and race but by being the people of the world.
In previous times, similar diseases have spread and gone like the Spanish flu. It is not as if we are still living with Spanish flu. The only thing was that it took a long time for this virus to disappear. Moreover, it is the nature’s law that nothing in this entire universe stays forever.
In a similar way, Covid-19 will disappear, just that it is up to us on how long we want it to stay. We can reduce the time it will stay. This can be done by social distancing and not venturing out when it is not needed, washing our hands frequently and most important of all being one team to fight against the virus. ‘Desperate times call for desperate measures’ and these are the measures that we have to carry out as responsible human beings.
In this process, not only will we have defeated the virus but also started calling ourselves the people of the world. I hope that after this we would start respecting mother Earth and take care of the beautiful nature around us.
Yours faithfully, Abhimanyu Kapoor.