Reopening the world economy, making haste slowly

direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way. In short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

I noticed that in announcing the passage of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell compared the current crises with the nation being at war. I couldn’t agree with him more. In a war situation, nobody asks anyone to stay indoors. You stay indoors by choice. In fact, if you have a basement, you hide there for as long as hostilities persist. During a war, you don’t insist on your freedom. You willingly give it up in exchange for survival. During a war, you don’t complain of hunger. You bear hunger and pray that you live to eat again.

Yes during a war, you don’t argue about opening your business. You close your shop (if you have time), and run for your life. You pray to outlive the war so that you can return to your business (that’s if it has not been looted or destroyed by mortar fire). During a war, you are thankful to God for seeing another day in the land of the living and you don’t worry about your children not going to school. You pray that the government does not forcefully enlist them as soldiers. The world is currently in a state of war. A war without guns and bullets. A war without human soldiers and without borders. A war without sacred zones.

The army in this war is without mercy. It is without any milk of human kindness. It is indiscriminate. It has no respect for children, women, or places of worship. It is not even interested in religious, ethnic or ideological hegemony. Its ambition has nothing to do with racial superiority. It is an invisible and ruthlessly effective army. Its only agenda is a harvest of death. It is only satiated after turning the world into one big death field. Without ground, amphibious and aerial machines, it has bases in almost every country of the world. Its movement is not governed by any war convention or protocol. In short, it is a law unto itself.

Thankfully, this army has a weakness and it can be defeated. It only requires our collective action, discipline and forbearance. COVID-19 cannot survive social and physical distancing. It only thrives when you confront it. It loves to be confronted. It capitulates in the face of collective social and physical distancing. It bows before good personal hygiene. It is helpless when you take your destiny in your own hands by keeping them sanitized as often as possible.

The Star News editorial opinion page of April 23, 2020 is right on point. The intent of the orders is to slow the spread of COVID-19 and in the process reduce the number of deaths in the countries. By the numbers, the strategy is really working everywhere.

This is not the time to cry about bread and butter like spoiled children. After all, the holy book tells us that man shall not live by bread alone. Let’s obey and follow the instructions of the authorities. Let’s flatten the COVID-19 curve. Let’s exercise patience. Let’s be our brothers’ keeper. In no time, we shall regain our freedom, enterprise and socializing. Indeed, everyone wants a return to normal. In the end, the quickest way to get there is the slow and steady route. —Osmond Ekwueme, Medford