A Living Palette
Just over a week ago, I found myself having a bit of the flu or at least flu-like symptoms. A bad throat, a really stuffy nose and was somewhat feverish too. I was convinced it was Covid19, given we are having a surge in infections again, but in those 6 days, I tested myself 3 times and each time it was a single red line.
What was interesting, though, was the reactions when I talked to colleagues, friends, and family. Most were relieved it was not Covid19, never mind I still felt pretty crappy. Some thought it probably is Covid19 but the test kit didn’t pick it up. In the midst of a medicinal haze (also procrastinating on work), I thought it was rather unfortunate it has come down to either Covid19 or Not Covid19. It’s as if we somehow shut out everything else and all that is left is these two diagnoses.
But I realised this has been going on since the pandemic began. When the virus first hit us and face masks were encouraged or enforced, there was this divide, either you are pro-masks or anti-masks. The vaccine was the same. Pro-vaccine or anti-vaccine. The divide was so great, in the US, it fractured into politics, embedding itself in different political ideologies. The discussion of masks and vaccines spun out of control, sometimes even leading to physical violence.
As we come to grasp the effects of the long-drawn pandemic, another divide was created. Lives and livelihood. Like an invisible line dividing the world, the discussion around protecting lives using country or citywide lockdowns or allowing more freedom of movement to save the economy, and hence livelihoods, took over. Doesn’t matter if many did not even have the luxury of staying home, or if living conditions meant staying home was almost impossible. The expression of lives vs livelihoods continues to dominate the headlines.
Just 2 days ago, WHO declared Covid19 is no longer a global health emergency. Similarly and unsurprisingly, there were those for it, and against it. But in all the situations above, yes, even with masks and vaccines, there’s more to it than what we know. With masks, there were real concerns about developmental issues with young children (this has been mostly debunked but at that time, it was a valid question). With vaccines, safety and adverse effects were again valid concerns raised by many.
But the way the world shuffled each other into two camps in each of those discussions, and sometimes in a very hostile manner, has shut down genuine discussions and even made it harder for some to reach out.
In our everyday lives, we tend to bucket people, things, and situations. It helps to rationalise the world and makes it easier for us to understand and make certain decisions. While this is not wrong, unfortunately, the world is not purely taxonomic but instead a living palette of colour. The world we live in is complex. We are complex. And I think it is important to recognise this complexity so we do not continue to create invisible lines in the world. The more we view the world as separate buckets, the more we lost sight of all the nuances and unique experiences each of us has.
The very thing that makes us human.