Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Ramadan 17, 1445 H
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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Surviving and overcoming 2020

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It is a period of ambiguity and confusion. Questions such as should we pay rent for commercial entities during the lockdown period, and what is the best way to get new tenants as well as the best way to make a profit seem to be thoughts for the day.


There seems to be no experts or coaches to give classes on how to survive 2020. It is not enough to cope, but we need to thrive by striving but how is it possible when 2020 looks like nothing as the years before.


It is not about recession; it is not just about having disagreements between nations, but rather dealing with uncertainties due to a virus and now struggling to ensure there is a vaccine for all, which is the current challenge. If in the past it was the wealth that divided a society between haves and the have-nots now it is the potential vaccines that are dividing nations. Not to forget the weak economies trying to stand up and families trying to make the ends meet with organisations figuring out how to stay away from drowning. “Should we try to make a move?” wonder some and that is when a statement from a friend echoed, “When the wind is blowing hard as they say keep low until it moves on.’’ People might want to take steps hastily or would want to give up, but we must buy time. Yet again, people with experience point out that there are times when decisions should be taken at the right time, if not the list of problems will just continue to add on.


People also point out that the world has seen similar calamities in the past too and nations survived them.


The impact of COVID-19 has also been the loss of so many people. Families are still mourning their loved ones, while still struggling to face the fear of the unknown. The other side of the coin has the other group which is beaming with confidence and is fed up with living in a restricted manner, and they are ready to go out and make their life happening once again. This seems to be another invisible divide between the societies. However the adventurous ones at times forget that they are going back to home where there could be someone who is vulnerable.


Experts have been pointing out that it is important to know the path of the transmission — whether it is from an infected person they have come in contact with or community transmission. But could one live in fear forever? Maybe not, if we take all precautions and patiently wait until the vaccines arrive. In the midst of all this is the struggle to survive. One of the industries that employ the highest number of people is the hospitality sector but it is the area which has had the biggest dent.


More than ever before people are looking out for jobs.


The worry has also been whether the virus has been evolving and if there is any change in mode of transmission. While some say the best thing to do is not to touch any surface, others say it is the distance maintained between people that matters.


One of the India’s leading singers who passed away this weekend after going through COVID-19, S P Balasubramanyam, who has also performed in Oman on many occasions, had earlier said this is the result of our actions. In several interviews he had explained how much he loved life.


Man who had thought he was superior to all other living beings on earth is now at the whims and fancies of an invisible virus. While man tries to make the moon hospitable for human beings, living on earth is turning out to be a challenge with the unpredictability of a virus. Man is supposed to be a social being, yet today that very feature is a threat.


Man has always been building defence but nothing that could shield him so far from a virus that continues to travel across the globe. While there is a race for a vaccine among nations and companies if all mankind cannot benefit it — then the theory of


survival of the fittest would not be a fair statement. Instead it would have to be ‘Survival of the ones who could afford.’


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