The View From Here

Cocooned in my tiny room, nestled in the labyrinth of one of Asia's greatest cities, watching the dim lights outside from this high floor; I lose myself in thought about this city. 

A city once known for its nightlife, night markets,beautiful women,and 24 hour shops

Now the lights are dim and we have become quiet as we have only one mandate now:

Survive the worst pandemic in a century.

On TV I see soul fraying images of bodies being burned in parking lots in Delhi and the mass graves in São Paulo. This is the 21st century. I shouldn't be seeing horrors worthy of WWII imagery. This wrongness chokes.

my solitary tears burn like acid on my cheeks, because I grieve for those I can't reach or touch and my powerlessness brings me to my knees, screaming on the floor. Nothing has changed:

Survive the worst pandemic in a century.

In Bangkok, the noose tightens. The rules grow stricter. We comply, because we are afraid, but mostly because we want to live. One idea dictates all other decisions:

Survive the worst pandemic in a century.

Arguments over vaccines, shifting timelines, contradictory information day by day, vaccine production issues, greed and despair. Still, it is written in light and ash:

Survive the worst pandemic in a century.

Thousands of kilometres away my family grows silent. Perhaps they forgot I am alive, or that I got trapped. A one month Airbnb rental that's blossomed into a 14 month rental. It doesn't matter if they don't care or don't remember that I'm trapped between bureaucracy, visa amnesties, boarder disputes and daily flight changes.

I'm not relevant because we are all lost in one sacred mandate:

Survive the worst pandemic in a century.

Silver thorned collars shine on death's beloved hounds. They nip at our heels and breath down our necks, waiting and wanting to pull us into the grave.

Maybe the virus will win. Maybe death's hounds will feast on millions. 

Or, perhaps, WE will win and

Survive the worst pandemic in a century.

Then we will take our place in history as survivors of one worst catastrophes in our species has encountered. 

History, science and judgement of will dissect and analyze what we did and how we survived. 

Let us hope we can hold up our heads up in pride, not lowered in cowardice, shame, and selfishness. 

We are all together here.

We are all together here.

We are all together here.

Let us fight this enemy as one.