Dr Asangba Tzudir
Even as the Covid-19 pandemic situation has gone beyond boundaries, on the human level more boundaries have been created and a process of bracketing followed by normalization is slowly setting in - the stranger ‘other’ is taken for a suspect; the joy of handshakes is being deprived; it has also become a ‘sin’ to not have a mask on the face; the social isolation for a social people, etc. We are now living in a new normal that does not seem to have a dateline at the moment.
One of the most painful thing about this whole pandemic situation is that, within the ‘forced bracketing’ and ‘seclusion’ there is no mourning for the departed. And only those families and relatives who have and are going through such painful horrific experiences knows the pain of not being able to mourn for their beloved ones. With no funeral and words of comfort, and not being surrounded by loved ones, it is no more a mourning but reduced to crying filled with imagination especially for those who could only see the coffin of their loved one from a distance, or worst still to be just told the news of being surrendered back to earth. The Bible says, “blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted,” but for now and sadly death thou cannot be mourned like it used to be.
Death has never been so lonely and depressing for the passing and more painful for the living. While the situation itself does not allow one to have a proper time of mourning, more painful it is for those families where the sole bread winner has left them that they don’t have time to mourn but to think about the next meal. If that is not painful enough, think about the orphaned children. It has lessons to offer on the pain of being in a situation of helplessness.
We all know that death is painful but the feeling of pain may not be known or experienced until one has lost a loved one to Covid during this pandemic. Within the boundary less corona times and the creation of human boundaries, these are times to be grateful for the life, for food over the table and for many other reasons. These are privileges and hope it continue to remind us of those who cannot mourn or do not have time to mourn, and let humanity of being a meaningful human speak in action. It will speak a different language, a language more humane that transcends even the language expressed through a handshake. When humans have created boundaries, it is time to reclaim humanity.
(Dr Asangba Tzudir writes a weekly guest editorial for The Morung Express. Comments can be mailed to asangtz@gmail.com)
