We are some of the lucky ones. We have a yard, but there are few like us around the world. As I look outside the window I see two long ears, and two yellow-brownish eyes. Is it a zombie? David is afraid of zombies because he watched too many horror movies in school. I am not. Oh, no, it's eating the wall! It is Edwina, our goat! And, no, she is not a zombie, we just forgot to buy her Calcium before the lock-down and she is now adjusting herself to the measures by eating our wall instead.
There is no school now. Today it's popular to lock children in. We have no essential responsibility and it's debatable if we should be allowed to move or exercise. In Spain, the country we used to love to visit and where Mom had been pre-selected for a faculty position just before the COVID-19 disaster, children have not been outside for the past six weeks. They have not been allowed to go out for any reason. BUT in a little under 10 days from now, the Spanish prime-minister has promised to relax the rules and let children out carefully -- but only those under the age of 12 or so is reported by BBC news. This means that I would be allowed out, carefully, but not David because he has made the mistake of being 13 and 1/2. David and I have our difference especially because David believes the world is against him. Of course, he does not see that he gets more and more annoying with every day that passes. Mom says it's part of being a teenager. Egypt is also releasing some people from their homes -- but only if they are between 20 and 65. So, while I've wanted to visit Egypt and see the pyramids, both David and I would still be locked-in there -- if we had been allowed to travel in the first place.
But is David right? Does the world have something against children? and against teenagers? and perhaps against young adults, too? When one looks for an apartment to rent, people prefer childless couples or single individuals who are older, but childless. When we used to rent in Switzerland and mom listed me on the form, we got (and lived in) an apartment that that was scheduled to be demolished after we moved out and later one in a building that would be completely refurbished/modernized immediately after our lease would end. So, in the midst of this pandemic, do our leaders make popular decisions that are backed up by hatred? After all they had difficulty in taking decisions in peace-time and to determine what a helpful decision is during a pandemic is hard. And they want to be popular and want to stay in power.
In addition to disliking children, people also hate foreigners. So, all countries closed borders first. Some now allow Eastern Europeans to come on scheduled flights as temporary workers -- a modern form of slavery -- at a time when they cannot work or even leave the house in their own countries. Everybody needs money to survive. So, parents and sometimes even grandparents leave their families to work abroad now more than ever because they cannot work at home. Foreigners are OK as long as they are a form of slaves that are kept away from the locals who help by sitting in their homes and doing nothing.
Will this hatred fade and be hidden again? Or will it erupt in a war that lasts for years? Isn't it dangerous to feed the hatred? In movies, it turns you into zombies, but what does it do in real life? So, far the idea is that 'we' sacrifice in the name of this pandemic where obesity is the primary co-morbid condition -- for those who die or develop a form that is severe enough to enter the ICU -- and most often only those in ICU are counted and the numbers used to lock us all inside instead of looking at a random sample of the population as a whole. Yet, obesity in children and adults is partly caused by staying inside, not moving enough and by eating too much -- often because one has nothing else to do. One is allowed to briefly walk animal companions -- around the house and it feels that children have fewer rights than pets throughout the world. When locked inside for months we might end-up mistrusting all forms of authority and especially the police, and perhaps even pull out the floor boards or jump from the tenth floor or fight and abuse and be abused in turn by the adults around us -- physically and verbally-- because there is no other way to be inside that long and be good and quiet unless we are glued to a screen. Screens are a way to make children seen but not heard.
The media keeps writing that quarantines, restrictions and the tracking of people through their phones should last until a vaccine is found and that this will take years. Will we ever be free? Or will we turn into a form of zombies because of these measures and because of addiction to technology? how could parents limit screen time when children are not allowed to go out? And later will we then fight each other in a real war with guns, too? But I forget, some of the children of Spain will be allowed outside carefully if they are under 12 and this should console them. Perhaps the world is turning into a big Zoo with people inside. Or will it be one huge China? or a digital gulag pioneered by Russia? until our leaders who could never take right decisions before find a way out?
I've read about the plague. It said it was transmitted by fleas, and that the world dealt with the issue by killing all the dogs and cats they could find -- tens and tens of thousands in London alone. They were people hired to do this and then the rats multiplied and went on to spread and spread the plague. Will the measures taken today that divide the world, eventually, be just as effective at destroying people as the killing of the dogs and cats was back then? When we have a problem, mom tells me and David to work together. Why can't adults do this? they already say nobody should go to college next year because there are bigger problems. Will there be universities for me and David to attend? and what will happen next as a result of these measures? hunger? war? where and how extended?
The media keeps writing that quarantines, restrictions and the tracking of people through their phones should last until a vaccine is found and that this will take years. Will we ever be free? Or will we turn into a form of zombies because of these measures and because of addiction to technology? how could parents limit screen time when children are not allowed to go out? And later will we then fight each other in a real war with guns, too? But I forget, some of the children of Spain will be allowed outside carefully if they are under 12 and this should console them. Perhaps the world is turning into a big Zoo with people inside. Or will it be one huge China? or a digital gulag pioneered by Russia? until our leaders who could never take right decisions before find a way out?
I've read about the plague. It said it was transmitted by fleas, and that the world dealt with the issue by killing all the dogs and cats they could find -- tens and tens of thousands in London alone. They were people hired to do this and then the rats multiplied and went on to spread and spread the plague. Will the measures taken today that divide the world, eventually, be just as effective at destroying people as the killing of the dogs and cats was back then? When we have a problem, mom tells me and David to work together. Why can't adults do this? they already say nobody should go to college next year because there are bigger problems. Will there be universities for me and David to attend? and what will happen next as a result of these measures? hunger? war? where and how extended?
No comments:
Post a Comment