Human Spirit: Helpless but not Hopeless, Isolated but not alone

Photo by the author

The adversary is all around us, but unfortunately neither we can catch it nor can we tame it. And that adversary is none other than Corona. As we reached 100 days since the  first Corona lockdown and all the ills that brought to us, the humanity is suffering silently. Many of our dear and near one's not only lost their lives but also left their families in such a void and emptiness. There are also families who are unable to meet their ends: Either because they have no labour or whatever they produce in their farms cannot be marketed. Life has come to a standstill for many but for others life is as usual. Because either there is corona or no corona, they neither toil nor attempt but their barns are always full.

In this context, we are moving ahead with our life: A life full of uncertainties and chaos. Our civilisation has put in our mind  is that we see our  worth when we to do something. When we don't do what we usually do then we feel worthless, useless and meaningless. We cannot make sense of our life. It is like going to work without having our usual morning coffee. Always something is missing, something is empty. 

Human Spirit feels and touches

Even though we live within a web of social relationships, yet we feel far and deserted when things do not turn to our favour or things do not happen the way we want. Humanity is interconnected with a spirit, which we call human spirit. We are intertwined, inter connected and intra connected. That is why we feel so much pain and anguish when a father and his young son no reason of their own are brutally beaten to death by the police in the police station of Tuticorin. When lost and dejected migrants make their way crossing hundreds of miles to their homes in the scorching sun and are killed by the goods train or meet with an accident. The human spirit feels with others, touches the depths of the other being. If that does not happen then it is not a human spirit that moves our lives. There is something, somewhere, somehow drastically has gone wrong. 

Helpless but not hopeless

In this crisis of corona, many feelings and sentiments have made homes in our hearts and minds. Often our empty lives have suddenly filled with feelings and sentiments. This is a grace indeed. The rat race of our lives has stopped or put a break without our control. Things usually are out of control of us and now we tend to be more control of them. When the external force has begun to control us (Corona) we are learning to control our lives. Frequently, we had been pressed into boredom or depression due to excessive work or social pressure, now because of the unseen outside adversary we are able to control especially our depression, angst and pressure. Now it seems to me the lack of pressure of work or of society itself is causing in us emptiness, anxiety making us to ask the question again and again when will this pandemic be over? When we will be able to move outside and enjoy a ride without a face mask, gloves and sanitisers? However, we are privileged. Because we are helpless but not hopeless. Nothing is beyond us. We are in communion with each other. Everyone is on the same boat. Life has become uncertain. Predictability seems to have no more any value. The certainty is that somewhere someone is steering the wheel of this universe. 

Isolated but not alone

As the humanity is groaning with pain due to the present pandemic we have reached a stage where we do not like to hear any more  the word "covid-19" or "corona" infection. Enough is enough are our innermost sentiments. Nothing seems to be coming to our rescue except that hope of positivity and sense of being not alone. We are with others. Each one is counted, and counted definitely. It is not in the sense that government keeps the record of covid patients or John Hopkins University that keeps the data of people who have been infected in each and every country of the world. But in the  sense that every other soul that gets infected or waiting to be infected is not alone in this struggle of survival. Strangely, Darwin seems to be right here. The survival of the fittest is still a valid argument.  The crises of today continues to wreck havoc in the feeble, vulnerable, and fragile. But the strength of the human spirit is that you are not alone. There is out there human soul struggling, isolated and wrestling. The multiplication of the isolated situation is not a continuation of loneliness but togetherness and confluence of homogeneity of that same human spirit. We struggle in isolated wards, rooms, or homes, containment zones but still there is multitude of the sense of togetherness. We believe that creator has given that spirit to fight our survival, to struggle to achieve that togetherness. 

- Olvin Veigas, SJ

14 July 2020