Fola Ojo
This is the new age of a pandemic pandemonium. COVID-19 has set the globe on bonfires. From New York to New Jersey; and from New Orleans to New Mexico; nothing is standing at ease. All things are standing still. The novel nature of the disease makes predictions about its end-game very difficult. What is certain about it is its ravishing killer swirl.
Different kinds of stories we hear and read about COVID-19. Fake news has edged out real news. To discern the truth from among the horde of noise inundating our global space, you’re in a better shape acquiring knowledge and gathering facts yourself from very credible sources like the World Health Organisation and America’s Center for Disease Control. That was what I did until about a few days ago when I gave up on reading about the virus. It no longer does my body, soul and spirit any good. I’m sick and tired of reading up on the undiscriminating, reckless, and feckless malady that’s no respecter of persons and personalities. Information I stumble on kills my spirit and I’ve had enough. I know what I need to know. I know it is wise to shelter safe from the invisible ravenous adversary sucking off both red and white blood cells from the arteries and veins of beings who were never prepared for the vile visitor. If you want to live and not die, your house must be your hideout for now until we cross over this brutal and boisterous Red Sea to the other side where we hope to sing: “Who is like unto Thee, Oh Lord” in another realm. Do we know when? That is the uncertainty about this single-strand virus.
My wife is an intelligent woman who knows enough about the world around her. Now; she has proved to be the smartest person in my household. While my boys and I stayed glued to the TV trying to catch the next breaking news about what city is under the siege of the pandemic, she chose to break a new ground. She just deliberately shut out of our world of curiosity and worries about the next man or woman who will unfortunately succumb to the punishing pangs of death from the pandemic. When mummy’s heart started jostling in angst and anxiety watching TV and surfing on the Internet, she pulled the curtain on the screen and social media. Now, she is safe from all the uncalming news boiling about the number of infected folk and death tolls in cities and villages around the world. Like every member of my household, she knows enough about the pandemic.
In these days of lockdown, hunker-down, forced or self-quarantine outbreak and outbursts, I stay away from the CNN or AlJazeera; and MSNBC. Every TV channel has gone mad with this uncalming corrosive coronavirus news. This is the flu season in America; lest you begin reading coronavirus meaning to every cough you hack; every sneeze you blow, every congestion piling up in your nasal cavity, and every nagging headache that pounds your head; It is better you watch what you watch.
Some who will die before time this season will not be killed by the pandemic. They will be by self-induced panic, fear and worries ravaging their minds. The mind of a man is like the human muscles. The more you exercise it, the stronger it gets. If you exercise with fear, it grows stronger with fear. If you exercise with faith and fight, you will triumph. The human mind is also a battle field, it holds tremendous creative ability. That’s why man is endowed to imagine and create mental pictures of where he wants to be. Strong minds suffer without complaining. Weak minds complain without suffering. Some people cannot handle fear-filled news and depressing gory pictures shown on TV. Do not let fear and anxiety take hold of your mind. It is a set-up by the devil to make you a terrible statistic. Whatever your mind embraces in meditation will become the blueprint for your reality. Watch what you watch.
Isolate yourself from news about the virus. Everything we need to know, we already know. Searching for additional information on the Internet is stirring up the hornets’ nest. Those venomous bees are ready to sting a weak mind until it drops. As a behavioural scientist, I know that a positive mood will help protect the immune system, while negative thoughts have been shown to depress and weaken it against viruses. A big bulk of the news you read on social media is simply noise that can bring your mind into dark places. The noise is set to incite fear and sadness or anger; so, stay away from them as you watch what you watch.
Many people are bedfellows with bad news. Their itching ears are inclined to hearing people suffer and die. They peddle gory news with glee and gaiety and ignore or downplay sweet testimonies. These people do not want you to know that there are too many positives locked up in the negatives swirling around about COVID-19. They will not tell or share the news with you that in the last 72 hours, Italy has healed almost 1,000 patients infected with coronavirus. They will not tell or share the news with you that the rate of hospitalisations in the UK as a result of the infection is dwindling. They will not tell or share with you that in Washington State where the pandemic sprouted from in the US, the speed of the disease has been slowed down. You will not hear them share the story that Prince Charles, one week after announcing his diagnosis of coronavirus, has recovered fully and come out of isolation. Have these carriers of bad news told that Prince Albert of Monaco who also announced he had tested positive has also recovered from the disease? They may not also give you the hint that four basketball players of the Brooklyn Nets in the US who also had tested positive have also fully recovered. It is true that we are still a long way to go discovering a vaccination or lasting cure of the disease; but scientists and experts are not folding their hands either. Today is better than yesterday in finding ways to stop the virus in its deadly tracks. Let’s keep the social distancing going; let’s keep washing our hands. Let’s stay away from large assemblies like the church and mosques. Our God is Omnipresent One who can be worshipped from anywhere in these times; and He will hear us. Let’s disregard the noise from unwise clergies who ram it down throats of the gullible faithful that God can only be worshipped in tabernacles made with human hands. Listen and share the positives ONLY. If you want to live long; AVOID carriers of bad news. Some of them are friends or family members who are worse than the ravaging pandemic and plague. The spiritual atmosphere is tense! But He that keeps His people neither slumber nor sleep. After every season of darkness, the Light of God breaks forth and breaks down the darkness. I have that assurance.
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