Some of us are currently chafing at the bit – forced to stay at home and unable to work or workout, party or do anything as usual. Some of us are enjoying the break in the routine and are making the best of the time as we social distance themselves in the time of COVID-19. Then there are those of us who have no choice in the matter – they are at the frontline of responding to the coronavirus pandemic and go about doing their jobs sincerely and diligently. Swati Raval is one such – a veritable warrior in these vexed times. But, are we treating these people with the respect and compassion that they deserve?
Forest Officer S D Raval received a call from his daughter Swati on 21 March 2020. She told him that she had been asked to go to Italy to pick up Indians stranded there. She at once agreed to go. She was part of a 22 member team that flew Air India’s Boeing 777 to Italy and brought 263 Indians back home.
To be clear, Italy is currently the country worst affected by the novel coronavirus pandemic. Swati has a little five-year-old child. Swati and the others in her crew literally put their lives on the line to bring back the people at least some of whom could likely be infected with the deadly virus. Swati is one of the lakhs of people who are directly risking themselves in order to serve or to save others.
On 22 March, Sunday there was a great deal of commotion created by people, ostensibly to thank people such as healthcare workers, the police, crews, emergency workers, sanitation workers and so on. However, in places, this deteriorated into meaningless (and completely counterproductive) celebrations on the street. Some of those clapping their hands and ringing bells and blowing conches came on to the streets in their droves at a time when they were expressly asked to stay indoors.
And now we hear that some societies are ostracising the very people they were supposed to be thanking. It now seems that all the fanfare and the supposed thanksgiving was nothing more than tokenism at best; hypocrisy at worst.
Those who have returned from abroad are being socially boycotted by the Residents Welfare Associations (RWA) of some societies. As an Air India press release dated 22 March 2020 (image) states, there have been instances of RWAs and neighbours socially ostracising crew members who have come from abroad.
There have also been reports of healthcare workers being prevented from returning to their homes and in cases, even being asked to vacate their residences by the landlords. This is happening at a time when people at the forefront of serving and keeping us safe deserve our appreciation. This is when we should be offering any help that can be given rather than troubling and hounding these people who are discharging their duties and risking themselves in the process.
What does it say about us as a people that we become suspicious, afraid and hostile towards anyone who appears to represent even the vaguest of threat? Where is our empathy and our sense of community at a time when each of us has to do whatever we can to keep all of us safe and healthy? These intrepid people are out and about doing their jobs at significant cost to themselves and their families. They could even be directly responsible for helping or saving any of our own loved ones. But that is not the reason why should have empathy and fellow-feeling for those around. Do we not understand the simple fact that we are all in this together? How is it so difficult to understand that we need to have a modicum of fellow feeling; a sense of community regardless of whether or not there's something in it for us.
Right now, all we have to do is demonstrate the good sense to just stay at home and practice social distancing – and of course, behave like decent human beings with a smidgen of compassion for others. So far, we have not been able to show that we are fully capable of either.
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