Death
The COVID — 19 Pandemic has taken a huge toll on the world. Systems of doing things, processes of everyday life, and manners of living out relationships have changed drastically. For example, most offline government processes have been moved online at an incredible rate in my country. I have not been to a workplace in the last six months, and in terms of relationships, I have not met most of my friends since last year.
One thing that has remained the same is the grief of death. The only new thing about it is that it has taken away way more people than imaginable. 3500000 across the globe at the time of writing this article. It is a devastating number. Families have been wiped off. Children have become homeless. Wives are now widowed, parents are heartbroken, and grandparents are traumatized!
Otherwise, nothing else is the same and nothing will as long as the pandemic lasts. In fact, many changes will be lasting ones until another “force” forces them onto an alternative course. Meeting friends will be more online, make new friendships has already shifted online and will deepen as a social process, working for most desk jobs will shift online, transportation due to change in volume of travelers will change it its design, internet technologies and infrastructures will be boosted; so on and so forth.
One thing that will remain constant post-pandemic for entire humanity is the harsh reality of death. I hope as a society, we are able to address it more openly in our conversations without being bogged down by the morbidity of the subject. I hope it is not taboo to talk about death and mourning. I hope, that we will come together as a human society to discover and live hope pitted against death. I hope we will overcome the stigma of death and morn wholeheartedly as individuals and collectively when affected by a death. For after mourning will come the sense of hope to live — on.
