We’ve made it to August. We are closer to the end of 2020 (arguably the worst year in my 30-year existence) than we are to the start. Jose Mari Chan memes are lurking in the corners of the World Wide Web ready to surface come September 1st. Christmas songs will immediately commence reverberating in radio stations and shopping malls all over the home country. But with everything going on, will Christmas even be merry?
At the start of the year when events were only beginning to unfold, I found myself tuning in to the news every hour of every day. I felt like I needed to keep myself informed. It was my way of connecting and keeping in solidarity with the rest of world. But as each day turn into an iteration of the previous one forming an unending loop, I realised my unmoderated consumption of the news was making me irritable.
The world is in such a disarray this has got to be Murphy’s law at play. It seems that anything that can go wrong has already gone wrong yet the bad news kept coming and there’s just no sign of it stopping.
My friends on the frontlines, overcome by fear, fatigue and dead bodies on their watch, are sounding the distress signal. My friends who are not are equally distressed with the deteriorating state of public governance. The president, instead of listening to the pleas of its battered citizenry, had just suggested we douse ourselves in gasoline. How about you take the lead sir and light yourself up on fire while you’re at it.
It’s difficult to keep calm and carry on like the queen when countless lives are lost every single day. Travel, my refuge in uncertain times, is currently not an option. Whether we can ever go back to the way things were remain unlikely. It’s a sad prospect.
Meanwhile in Marbel, my hometown, it seems business as usual. Online selling is thriving and everyone has turned into horticulturists. The barter system has been revived and ordinary people are benefiting from the genius of it. At one point, the government wanted to impose tax on barter because they are dementors who suck what little pleasure people are clinging on to but backed off after probably realising their own idiocy. It is great to see some semblance of normalcy however minute. The ability of my people to find a silver lining in this godawful time is filling me with joy. It makes me homesick but it also makes me feel hopeful that maybe things will be okay. If anything, in Darwin’s natural selection, I’m confident they are the most likely survivors.
In Singapore, the outbreak is contained but neighbouring countries are experiencing cases of fresh outbreaks, there is no room to be complacent.
A few friends are infanticipating. Another reason to hope.
We have four months to the end of the year. We might have made it to August but at the rate things are going, the future isn’t guaranteed.
How are you holding up? I think I’m still somewhat sane.