All About Confinement
“We as humans should refrain from any form of gatherings because of the pandemic at hand”, if only it were that easy.
It would be superfluous to say the year 2020 kicked off right; it has been a rollercoaster of events and emotions. I still can’t comprehend how much has happened; it seems there’s a disaster for every month. From almost witnessing World War III, to the death of a legend (R.I.P Kobe), a wildfire in Australia that portrayed the underworld popularly known as hell, then the flooding in Venice and now we are presently faced with the COVID-19 virus; a virus that attacks people’s respiratory systems. The government has instructed us to stay away from each other; Isolation may be the new prevalent theme.
One moment everything is going accordingly, the next moment we have a pandemic at hand. I had joked about the apocalypse like premonition although I never expected this. Almost immediately, I had a flashback of my mother saying, “there’s power in the tongue”. Now I can’t help but feel guilty over the axiom of taking my mom’s word for granted and that I may be partially responsible for this pandemic.
It’s baffling how many cases have turned out in such a short amount of time, yet people still don’t heed to the advice of “social distancing”. You’d think that would be the simplest of tasks in an ideal world, but that phrase is quite esoteric. I have come to the conjecture that human beings are stubborn from birth; it’s the only explanation for their insubordinate behaviour. We are bestowed with a consciousness that allows us to be aware of “what is wrong” and “what is right” so you’d expect us to do the accepted right?
The axiom about this topic is most humans are selfish and would only participate in an activity if and only if (↔) it benefits them, or its reward-based. The term “panic buying” has erupted in these pervasive times and it doesn’t strike me as a revelation. The mass wants to survive and like in motions we have all seen, the best way to do that is to stock up on non-perishables. All logical thinking is disregarded when faced with a conundrum; that’s my way of trying to rationalize how a person purchases an aisle of toilet paper.
I’ve lost track of the indistinguishable days that go by, talk less about the time I’ve spent idling or unnecessarily napping. I spend most of my time being selectively active towards things that interest me and occasionally; schoolwork. I sink myself into a segment of the digital space we call social media for almost what feels like infinity doing nothing productive but watching people participate in various challenges as a new form of ‘entertainment’ during this crisis.
It’s certainly going to take a lot getting used to the present settings: empty streets, pin-drop silence, a commanding factor which says you should stay inside; it defies the reason behind the creation of humans. Socialisation is the whole point of existing; I certainly feel bad for those who live alone or away from family. You can only video chat for so long before you realize mutual interaction in a physical presence is unparalleled. Every relationship whether mutual, platonic or sexual has some sort of physical contact or interaction; we show love in various ways but it’s crazy how the only way of showing love at present times is by distancing yourself.
I’ve decided to challenge myself to create something every day in confinement while I sit and hope for better times to come.
