IT has been exactly a year since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 as a pandemic and when many of the countries decided to go into a lockdown.
The Philippines, or rather the mega-island of Luzon, started its hard lockdown on March 16.
It’s been a year and have we learned our lessons?
Of course not, otherwise we wouldn’t be in this dumpster we are in now.
But there are lessons, some we heeded and some we didn’t. Here are some:
1) In this war, we ironically can’t work with each other face-to-face and hand-in-hand. In fact, the best way to weather this war is to face it alone.
2) Loneliness can kill.
3) Science can save us but so can the arts.
4) Toilet paper can’t save us. Vegetables can but still we dumped them.
5) Baguio can live without tourists.
6) Greedy people will still cut trees even if it is the end of the world.
7) Politicians will still find ways to make money.
8) First we thought it would kill only the elderly. Then it turned out that it can kill anyone.
9) Fear can be a medicine.
10) Liquor ban will not work.
11) But bring your own glasses.
12) Talk softly.
13) We can live without our cars but politicians can’t live without parking buildings.
14) In a pandemic, one cure is to hand over the public market to the malls.
15) We thought that anyone could be killed by the virus but still the poor remain the foot soldiers in this war and the generals are the COVID czars.
16) Quiet desperation is the Baguio way.
17) Exercise is needed but not in the gym.
18) A street-level market is much better than an underground one.
19) Necessity is the mother of invention.
20) Evil lurks on Monday night.
21) We get tired of jokes especially if they are government people.
22) There are still heroes among us.
23) Kindness is better than bullets.
24) Trust science.
25) If scientists work together, they can do miracles.
26) So can farmers.
27) But never politicians.
28) Pets matter.
29) You work better in your homes
30) It’s hard to be a teacher.
31) It’s hard to be a student.
32) Students need teachers.
33) Parents can be students.
34) Nature can live without us.
35) Lies are dangerous.
36) Idiocy cannot be killed by the virus.
37) The virus is not karma.
38) Family matters.
39) Talk to people like it’s your last time to see each other.
40) It’s OK to cry alone.
41) Now you know why soju is number one.
42) We can not return to where we once were.
43) When an FB profile turns dark or becomes a candle, say “Condolences” without even asking.
44) There’s no such thing as a donor fatigue or a kindness fatigue or a love fatigue.
45) A garden is a prayer.
46) Sometimes no sex can be fun. Humor is more important.
47) You would recognize a smile even with a face mask.
48) Fear is a knife.
49) Craziness can be medicine.
50) Climate changes but so can you.
51) Don’t eat bats.
52) Slow down.
53) This is not a vacation.
54) Read books.
55) Talk to God and to anyone else.
56) We’ve been in this before.
57) Truth matters.
58) Hard times bring opportunity but don’t make this your mantra.
59) You’re alive? There is a reason.
60) Say sorry now.
61) Now is the time to write your book or at least tell your story or compose a poem.
62) Politicians brought us down. Don’t forget that.
63) Less carbon footprint, more legacy.
64) Don’t lose your trust.
65) Listen to unfamiliar songs and stories.
66) Travel less, stay longer.
67) Love your friends.
68) You don’t need to reach 100.
69) In the end, we must love together or die.
