These are absurd times and everyone is trying to make sense of all of this in their own ways-nature’s revenge, divine intervention, man made calamity…there are other ways people react. Their fear and anxiety takes the shape of anger, we want to fix the blame on someone; someone to vent out our anger, all the suffering seems so unjust. Others are focused on figuring out ways to deal with the crisis or preparing for impending crisis. Doing something makes us feel less helpless.

There is a lot of concern on whether we have enough PPE, enough ventilators, enough isolation beds….but these are not the only things required to deal with the crisis. What we really need a lot is compassion and kindness. A lot of compassion for those getting sick, for those getting scared, for those getting angry, for those facing impact of lockdowns…we need all the human kindness we can harness to neutralise all the anger, fear and anxiety!

“I know that man is capable of great deeds. But if he isn’t capable of great emotion, well, he leaves me cold.” 
― Albert Camus, The Plague