Ferdinand Adimefe: Finding Light in a Time of Crisis

A reset is upon the earth. Not for the earth, for humans. Beneath the shaking is a falling together, not falling apart. Under the crisis is a cure. This is not the end of the world, it is the end of an era and the beginning of another.

Across human civilizations, moments of crises have often afforded us opportunities to reset our entire systems. Coronavirus is not the greatest disaster of the 21st century, it is an opportunity to reset, reassess and rethink. It attempts to teach some important lessons that have often eluded us at a high cost. It took a virus to bring our world to an abrupt halt. For the first time, fast-pacing humans are forced to slow down.

What have we discovered?

It is revealing an even deadlier, deep-rooted virus in our world; broken priorities. A world devoid of humanity. A world lost to activities, barren of genuine spirituality. A world of self-serving ambitions, void of an overall empowering vision. A world where people are used and money is loved. A world wrapped in religion, yet short on relationships. One way or another, we all saw this coming.

This time, change is not a choice but a priority. We can panic and see this as the end of the world, or we can be patient and interpret this accurately. This is a picture painting moment to help us re-calibrate. It is time to rediscover our humanity and connectedness through these crises. We are waking up to what matters. We are waking up to what is real and unreal. We are distracted from our distractions. We are waking. Suddenly, we are present, we can pause, we can feel, we can observe the wrinkles on the faces of the elderly. We can see that the kid has lost a tooth and is growing another. We had been too busy chasing things that we forget to live. We are sick because our home is sick. For most of us, we don’t know where home is.

What are we learning?

That we may be continents apart, miles away, separated by cultures, religions, race, and tribe, yet in the end, we share the same humanity, and a common enemy. What affects one affects the other. The virus did not need a passport or acceded to a travel ban. We do not need more walls to deepen the divide. We need more bridges to collaborate and work together.

That cold wars and world wars deprive us of vision, preventing us from seeing the enemy for what it is. We are experiencing, for a moment, what many in war zones have experienced for decades while we went unperturbed. The powerful finally have a taste of helplessness. It is reminding us – through this brief oppression – of all those whose lives are spent in oppressive circumstances. Now is the time to step away from the fault lines and hold hands.

What have we learned from wall streets and the stock market?

That our entire life investment and work can go up in flames in a second. As markets slowly go down and the stocks we have accumulated rise and fall by the hour, Wall Street reveals itself for what it really is, undependable. There are no answers on Wall Street. There are no easy answers from science either. Art can only stir the soul but, not ease the agony.

It is in self-isolation that we realize our devices are not enough to quieten our minds, we need words of life. It is reminding us that what we wear and ride, and where we live is not as important as what we give, sacrifice, care, and love. It is revealing how materialistic our society has become. It is in these difficult times that we recognize the essentials we need (food, water, medicine) as opposed to the luxuries we sometimes attribute unnecessary value to. It is reminding us of the precious gift of life and health we often take for granted. The freedom to pace around. The freedom of community and socialization.

How long do we go on sacrificing love for stuff, family for money, substance for fame? It is reminding us of how important our family is and how much we have neglected the home. It is forcing us back into our houses and rebuild them into homes; to strengthen the family unit. This is a prompt that those grand goals aren’t that big. That our true work is not our jobs. Our true work is to look after each other, to protect each other and to be of benefit to one another.

This can be a time of reflection and understanding. This is an invitation to have a rethink about the world, your world.