Publisher’s Note

Time to think while the planet resets…
Who would have thought that an invisible enemy could dictate  terms and change the way the world has to behave. A world grown to survive on wants and desires has been brought to its knees, to re-evaluate itself on the basis of what it really needs to survive. Power and money are rendered meaningless in the face of an enemy that doesn’t choose its victims or see them as any different from each other. One is brave when isolating one’s fears in confinement but the impoverished that don’t have the luxury of 6ft of separation are out there in the face of adversity trying their best to keep cities clean and safe. We never really seemed to notice them before in the anxious bustle that made up our lives, but heed their effort as they are out there surrounded and facing dangers that we hide from.
The men in khaki that normally receive flak, are the frontline warriors who are out in open working relentlessly to maintain discipline, facing the enemy with only a mask. This war has taken on a whole new avatar with mighty weapons replaced by a sliver of fabric that could separate us from life and death. Statistics show that there is no time off or holidays and the watch is on permanently, it is incessant and indefinite.
A red cross on the building meant visiting it would mean that you got better and would be well taken care off. Today it is the scariest place to go to with the battle for survival being fought hard and bravely by warriors of a different kind. Sacrificing their health and that of their families in order to serve and save society is perhaps the most humane effort ever called upon. Would the medical profession have ever dreamt that a day would come when they would be masked to fight, what I refer to as World War III?
Nothing in the world could have forced humanity to stay indoors, slow down, and start to think. It took a weird looking virus with powers so lethal, to unite the world in a common battle. Do we really need faster internet and AI that takes over control of our lives? Do we really need to produce so much that we no longer have space to discard what is of no use to us? Do we really need to out-smart ourselves with creative interventions that may one day turn around and destroy us? Maybe it’s time to think. Maybe we are being forced to stop, to think. Is there anything that would have made the world stop for a while to take stock and account for itself? Humanity is in such a mad race to get ahead and have more that it needs to
think of the good old days when there was less, but people were happy.
Whatever conspiracy theories arise, and perhaps there may be truth in them, it is necessary to use this time to evaluate, change, improve and learn from what nature is unravelling for us. Whether we rush back into our lives with the same frenzy or adapt and improve our way of thinking, expectations and behaviour is entirely up to us. We have learnt to share, be less selfish, be more considerate, live as a community, and honour simple human beings who are giving their all selflessly. This was something we all took for granted. So, we can already see change happening and if this can seep this into every facet of our being, our professional lives and community living, we can hope for a better tomorrow.

No matter what happens on the 17 th of this month, one must realise that the invisible enemy is not just going to disappear, so we must maintain the vigilance, keep with the protocol that keeps us safe, as we move forward in the months to come.

Lynn Deas

Publisher