Ten Things For The New Year That 2020 Taught

The world has an agonizing experience with the bygone year. But, it has left behind significant lessons for us to ponder in the New Year 2021. As one philosopher said, turn the disadvantage into an advantage.

1. Scientists have been telling us the link between climate change and the pandemic. The unabated intrusion into nature has intensified zoonotic diseases to which COVID-19 belongs too. The man-nature balance needs to be protected and preserved for the survival and wellbeing of humanity. Plundering environment has serious economic and health consequences. Strike a balance between environment and development is the broader lesson the pandemic offers.

2.Humanity has gone through the most complex phase of adapting to the unprecedented stress imposed by the virus. Livelihoods are lost. Some had to depart with their loved ones, jobs, and wages took the worst hit, economies struggled to recover, governments were put under test for their ability to serve the masses. Infodemic proved to be worse than the epidemic. Workplaces were disturbed, education went haywire, and health systems came under unprecedented duress. Social connect has to be forcibly avoided which is uncharacteristic of human beings. Yet the survival of the fittest remains a mantra. 2020 taught us how to adapt to something unimaginable till the previous day.

3. This generation often consumes more than its saves. The gen-next loves to live in the present and unwary of the future. But, as family economies are put under stress, the imprudent lifestyle has no place. The classical Indian value of saving for the future assumed greater importance. Impediments may confront us at any time. The wise and the intelligent should always plan for the future to avoid unforeseen challenges.

4. Technology pervaded our lives as the pandemic made us helpless. Tele medicine, online education, work from home, virtual interaction between friends and families have become new normal. The power of technology to assist mankind was more than evident. The invention of the vaccine, drugs, and therapeutics could only deliver respite from the excruciating pain of the pandemic. Nations and people alike should master the technology to stay relevant.

5. The dust and din of modern life have delinked us from the family. But, the self-isolation inflicted upon us by the contagion brought the families together. The busy lifestyle-driven professionals were compelled to spend time with spouses and children as the economy came to a grinding halt. 2021 finds family as the greatest natural resource for mankind as 2020 thought bitter lessons.

6. Life is not eternal. The limited time and space available to us should be productively used not for ourselves but the people around us. As the woebegone stories of migrant labour flashed on the TV screens and newspaper headlines, society responded with a deep sense of anguish. A humanitarian outlook dawned on the society as governments coped up with the challenge of taking the relief to the last mile.

7. The importance of health, hygiene, and nutrition were more than evident as the worst public crisis gripped the world. People need to be extra vigilant to adopt healthy lifestyles. The business as usual approach would deprive us of the happiness one derives from the prosperity or personal accomplishment.

8. Irresponsible personal behaviour will not only put your life at risk but poses a potential threat to the health of the people around you. Social distancing, mask-wearing, personal hygiene, etc, the buzzwords of the pandemic taught us the imperative of responsible community behaviour.

9. With market fundamentalism pervading the public policy arena, the withdrawal of the state is portrayed as prudent economics. But, the market alone does not usher in social wellbeing especially in a period of crisis and chaos. Government hospitals with poor facilities prevailed over swanky corporate health care shops. Businesses turned to the government for help despite believing in a free-market philosophy that envisages no role for the state. Food security, social security, better labor conditions like the job and wage security are no longer archaic public policy objectives as the misery of 2020 continues to haunt us even as we enter 2021 with renewed hope.

10. The often-heard message from the medical fraternity during the pandemic is to protect the elderly and the people with comorbidities. The vulnerabilities of pandemic further reinforced India’s cultural value of respecting the old and compassion for the sick.

By Prof K Nageshwar

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