The World on Reboot
By Dr Mahjabeen Islam
Toledo, Ohio
Like in a bad chapter of a sci-fi novel, the Corona virus pandemic will kill many and leave many in sudden poverty. It is indeed surreal to comprehend that in our lifetimes we will have seen a pandemic and likely The Second Great Depression.
“These pandemics are on a one hundred-year cycle, almost like clockwork,” said Dr Nasir Husain, an infectious disease consultant. This piqued my curiosity, so I looked it up, and he is right. The Great Plague or The Black Death in 1347 killed an estimated 75-200 million. The world got a bit of a respite until the Italian Plague of 1629 which killed 280,000. Then the plague of Marseille in 1720 killed 100,000. The Spanish Flu, or the influenza pandemic in 1918, is estimated to have killed 17-50 million people. And in 2020 Coronavirus.
At the time of this writing there were 307,725 Covid-19 cases and 13,054 deaths worldwide. Sadly, by the time you read this, you will note that the cases are exponentially higher.
The graphs above show the exponential increase of Coronavirus cases nationally and in New York City.
The slow unfold
The WHO vacillated a bit before it called the Coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. And after it did, instead of our government going on overdrive and doing a national clampdown, the country got split between people calling it overblown (Trump fans) and others demanding immediate action (labeled the liberals). At the time of this writing, only three states, California, Illinois and New York have gone into lockdown and it feels like this is a developing country, with the government’s focus on censoring the news and not wanting to face the rising numbers. There is a shortage of ventilators, ICUs, personal protective equipment and even masks. We have a defense budget to invade and destroy other countries, but we cannot protect our own. Trump was informed of the Covid-19 threat in January 2020 but did nothing about it. Instead our corrupt Congresspersons sold and bought shares on the stock market, feared the Coronavirus threat in private and denigrated it in public and boasted of our preparedness to tackle it.
Every day my strategy of medical practice changed. On Friday, March 13, we worked on advising people observation when they called in with respiratory symptoms, and examined some that came for unrelated visits but had respiratory issues. By Monday March 16, we converted to telemedicine, except for having to physically see some patients who I cannot prescribe medication to without a urine drug screen.
The Second Great Depression?
America has slowly closed down. The Stock Market is reminiscent of the Great Depression . Unemployment claims are surging and it is predicted that they might reach an unprecedented territory of 2.25 million. How does a country recover from that? My private practice has been scaled down to the point that survival beyond 30-45 days at this pace is difficult to envision. I’m trying to hold on to my employees because starting from scratch when all this is over, is not a good move. Other small businesses in America cannot do this. To come to terms with the sudden change in our fortune - with little work and the stock market crash - just adds to this one word that my mind keeps churning up. WHAT?! Seems we will spend the next couple decades getting out of this medical and money mess. Which looks like the Second Great Depression to me.
Stages of Grief
To think that the entire world is going through Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’ Five Stages of Grief is also weird. For a few seconds in the morning while the brain is still half asleep there is respite. And then it suddenly hits; and for me it is mainly denial/disbelief at what just got unleashed, and anger at our government for its incompetence and the deaths of thousands. Hopefully, not millions.
Individual and national arrogance
All those aphorisms of “we’re in this together” and “it’ll never be the same again” suddenly stop being corny. When we go away on vacation, almost invariably, we reboot, we reflect. From existential questions to simpler ones like where am I headed or should I consider a career change. With this forced vacation, the world is on reboot; our questions multiply and the answers seem to hide. We took so much for granted: parties, concerts, travel, shopping. If I dare plan a quick grocery stop now, the yelling chorus from my daughters is enough for me to want to jump off the cliff instead. Groceries must be delivered.
All of us have had varying levels of arrogance and have doled out injustice. As we are cloistered in our homes a personal inventory is very much in order. This is the time to repair relationships and ask for forgiveness. And most of all put down the smartphone and just sit and talk to your family. Indulge them. Especially if you are a parent, realize the anxiety, however camouflaged, that your children are going through and alleviate it. Reassure your parents and friends and keep the conversation positive. Arrogance in Islam is akin to shirk or the sin of association, for arrogance can only belong to God.
National arrogance appears to have not even been lightly dented by the massive catastrophe that the Coronavirus pandemic is.
No one speaks of the killing of one million Iraqi civilians on the basis of the lie of Iraq having weapons of mass destruction. The incarceration and torture of millions of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang China is not spoken of, even by Muslim countries, for fear of Chinese trade reprisal. The daily brutalization of Palestinians is presented to the world with a switch of victim and aggressor. The world, even Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, both hungry for Indian trade and money, looks away as India continues the ethnic cleansing of Muslims and has kept Kashmiris in lockdown for nine months now. Iran has suffered a significant Covid-19 toll but America refuses to lift sanctions and innocent Iranians suffer the lack of basic medical care. Even the desperation of our own citizens doesn’t return us our humanity and compassion.
Who’s in control?
On one fine day in Wuhan China the novel Corona virus traveled from bat to human and then between humans. And in that sentinel move, God conveyed, again, that He was in control.
Jawad Ahmad, a Pakistani singer, introduces one of his songs with a poetic representation of the Qur’an and Hadith in the form of a conversation between God and us, wherein God says:
There’s something you want and something that I want
But what will happen is what I want
So submit yourself totally to what I want and perhaps I will give you what you want
But if you are disobedient and rebellious with what I want
I will tire you out in your pursuit of what you want
And in the end it will always be what I want
Submission
The only sanity is in submission. Entirely to God’s will. Stay at home, be kind to your family, strengthen your spirituality, learn new skills, wash your hands, take every precaution and stop panicking. God’s got this. Wa uffawidu amri ilallah inallaha baseerun bil ibad: I entrust all my affairs to God; indeed, God is aware of His servants. (Qur’an 40:44)
