Thoughts on my mind…

First things first, these are just thoughts on my mind and I won’t pretend to have all the answers, but it’s important for us to open this up for discussion and maybe together we can create some solutions through dialogue.

I’m paranoid, anxious, stressed , unsettled always on edge and mentally in a dark space because of all the deaths caused by COVID19.

Have I tried to be careful? Yes, for the most part, but I won’t pretend that I haven’t let my guard down with friends and especially around family.

Each time I do, I’m unable to think of anything else for several days because I don’t know if I’ve been exposed or not.

It doesn’t help that my industry has been hit harder than most and for us, we can only try to be careful even though in reality without affordable testing and the inability to act/ perform with masks on we’re just relying on HOPE not to contract the virus.

Which is why I’ve been so frustrated by how this entire pandemic has been managed.

I understand that no government will have the blue print for managing this pandemic and most are only trying to figure it out as they go.

And for developing countries it’s an especially trying period, because of all the challenges we already face with healthcare, infrastructure and poverty; basically we were already FCKED and covid seems to have come to finish the job.

Which is why I feel that honesty and transparency is what we need to help us save more precious lives.

But I’ve been frustrated by the PR gimmicks and what it feels like a lack of honesty in the conversations around the virus.

I would have hoped that our recent elections would have taught our politicians a little something about P.R and how it doesn’t always work the way we want it to.

If not for nothing, we should have learned that no amount of PR will change how people feel and the realities they face everyday.

It’s why so many MP’s lost their seats in spite of the lavish campaigns, because to their constituents they didn’t live up to their promises.

It’s also why the elections were so close even though according to the world of paid social media trolling it didn’t seem like the opposition could get even 1%.

We’ve long gone past the era where the people absorbed everything they were told, fell for PR campaigns and didn’t care enough to do any research or digging of their own.

So you can continue to pump money into that PR machine all you want, and tell people the sky is green; but when they look up themselves they will see that it is blue.

So keep ignoring the complacency of the government in where we are with the virus today, keep ignoring the political rallies and other super spreader events that you all participated in, keep pretending you didn’t know the nightclubs were open throughout the holidays.

In the end no amount of PR can erase the deaths, no amount of PR can change the reality that people are getting sicker and sicker by the day.

And to the those who to insist that WE the people should know better and we’re to blame for our own recklessness; know that if man could be trusted to use his/her own discretion without order, we wouldn’t need traffic lights.

It’s the reason we appoint leaders to LEAD.

I’ve heard many say that you can’t force a donkey to drink at the river; but the character of the donkey, notorious for its stubbornness, is to develop confidence in the person entrusted with its welfare through WORDS, DEEDS and ACTION that the donkey will perceive to be in its best interest.

So problem isn’t so much the donkey, as it is the handlers who doesn’t appreciate the nature of the animal it has been entrusted much like our leaders when it comes to us.

I can’t imagine it being easy for any leader during this period; especially for something so unpredictable and I appreciate that there may not be any definitive answers or solutions.

But we can begin by being honest with exactly where we are NOW and stop trying to PR the realities away, all that will do is kill even more people.

We (including myself) let our guard down, we thought the worst was almost behind us,and we sometimes threw caution to the wind.

But this behavior was egged on largely by the assurances and behaviors of those in power.

The first step to healing is ACCEPTANCE, but if we don’t admit that we have a problem, spreading CALM will not change the FEAR of what may come.

As always, I will continue to pray for our leaders to be able to navigate us through this difficult period.

**special thanks to Malaka Grant for helping to edit.