Elizabeth Labanna Harney:

What happens when we pour excessive water in a jar? It overflows. Again,what happens when a large number of people get on a boat? I know you don’t need to think much to find out the answer. The boat gets imbalanced and it drowns. Now the question is when and why does it happen? It happens only when people are less concerned about the effects of their deeds. Everything has its capacity and limitations. If it is not maintained properly then it will get damaged somehow. The most burning question of recent times is the Covid-19 pandemic which has killed nearly 5 lac people around the world. But the virus alone itself is not responsible for killing a large number of people. It’s the human being who has always shown apathy to follow any rules and regulations. We are not careful enough to follow any structured rules. As a result, we are experiencing millions of death. As the situation is worsening day by day we need to be more conscious about the present situation and the post-pandemic conditions. If we are alive today, we can build up a good nation tomorrow. We need to think of the better colorful days which will wash away all our pains. We need to stand by the people who are disheartened and lost their family members. Thus, this is not the time to lament but also to make a plan for post-pandemic situations.

Epidemic and pandemics are not a new thing for this world. Maybe it doesn’t occur often but when it occurs, it takes millions of people’s life. We can learn from the history ofpast epidemics and pandemics like -Prehistoric epidemic: Circa 3000 B.C., Plague of Athens: 430 B.C., Antonine Plague: A.D. 165-180, Plague of Cyprian: A.D. 250-271, Plague of Justinian: A.D. 541-542, The Black Death: 1346-1353, Cocoliztli epidemic: 1545-1548, American Plagues: 16th century, Great Plague of London: 1665-1666, Great Plague of Marseille: 1720-1723, Russian plague: 1770-1772, Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic: 1793, American polio epidemic: 1916, Spanish Flu: 1918-1920, Asian Flu: 1957-1958, AIDS pandemic and epidemic: 1981-present day, H1N1 Swine Flu pandemic: 2009-2010, West African Ebola epidemic: 2014-2016, Zika Virus epidemic: 2015-present day.

If we go through the history of previous epidemics and pandemics, we will see human beings were consciously or unconsciously responsible for spreading out the deadly disease. For instance: take the case of AIDS, it was spreadfor the carelessness of the most intelligent creatures of the earth. And now for our consciousness,we can prevent us from being infected by this disease. The deadliest pandemic Spanish flu or 1918 flu pandemic killed about 20-50 million people and it lasted for 15 months. Citizens were ordered to wear masks, schools, theaters, and businesses were shuttered down. Again, swine flu was also an influenza pandemic which lasted for 19 months, and more than 50 million people were infected by this virus. It happened only because people were not aware of the consequences of deadly diseases. So, there are many more examples like these.

Thus, if we follow some steps to prevent us from this deadly disease COVID-19 then it will be easier for us to bring the death rate inlow numbers.Maybe, we can’t stop the pandemic but we can lessen the death rate. Therefore, we must maintain social distance, keep ourselves clean, wash our hands frequently, wear a mask, regular exercise, and pray to God.We also need to have healthy, vitamins rich foods.

For the COVID-19 pandemic, we are facing different kinds of crises. It is not only taking away people’s life but also weakening every country’s financial conditions. Amid this tension, we need to keep ourselves strong. The following steps may help us to reduce our stress a bit.

Prioritize yourself

Our first duty would be prioritizing our physical, emotional, and mental health. If we take more stress, it will weaken our immune system and brain functioning. Therefore, this time can be used to reflect, engage, and focus on our individual development. It can be a perfect time to start meditation and to do some creative works at home such as- painting, stitching, singing, and writing articles or poems.

Acceptance

We need to have the power of acceptance. For the COVID-19 pandemic, none of us were ready. Accepting the current state of affairs, acknowledging that this might be a reality for some time, and understanding the fact we can overcome the tide. We need to remember one thing, everything has its end so this pandemic will be over soon but its impact may last long. Therefore, accepting the fact would be the most intelligent decision.

Manage Spending

We need to very careful about spending our money and also need to evaluate ourselves whether we had spent our money in the right way in the past days. If there were no savings then this is the high time to think about how to spend and appropriately save money. This pandemic would be the great teacher to teach us the right way.

Be Updated

In such a crucial moment,we need to keep our minds fresh. Social isolation or social distancing doesn’t mean that we can be updated with our loved ones, friends, colleagues, and relatives by Facebook, Wats app, Viber, or any other means. We can throw an online party or scheduleonline drinks as fun. Thus, our friends and family members can be the best solution to keep ourselves unstressed.

Planning out for post-pandemic crisis:

Along with the severe health and humanitarian crisis we are facing a challenge in economic sectors.

We need to think about something new to cope up with this challenge. Our business sectors need to be developed again. The management theorist Henry Mintzberg famously defined strategy as 5 Ps: plan, ploy, pattern, position, and perspective.You can adapt this framework as our own 5 Ps: position, plan, perspective, projects, and preparedness.

Position:First, You need to identify your organization’s position in the market. What’s your position in the market? Do you need to shut down your operations? Will you be bankrupt? Or can you reopen after the pandemic? You must understand your organization’s position.

Plan:  After finding out your business position, you can make a plan on how to bounce back or how to start a new business. You need to take a smart strategic decision. You need to make a concrete plan today to do better tomorrow.

Perspective:Perspective illustrates how the organizations dosee themselves and the world? An organization’s identity maybe changed for this pandemic. This can push people apart and can bring people together. This is time to evaluate how prepared was your organization for this type of crisis.

Projects: Before starting any project you need to think twice. Be aware of starting numerous projects at a time with the same resources. With too many new initiatives, you could end up with a war over resources that delays or derails your strategic response.

Preparedness: Finally, you need to determine your organization’s preparedness. Are you ready and able to accomplish the projects you’ve outlined? The resources at hand, plan, and projects depending on the customers’needs will determine who achieves and who falls short of success.

To conclude,Thousands of people will be jobless around the world for this pandemic. Already our government has taken the necessary precautions to save his people. But we also need to come forward.It’s a great time to stand by each other. Those who are unprivileged, we can extend our helping hand to them and help the nation to recover faster. We are getting upgraded by technologically at the same time we need to focus more on our lifestyle, agriculture, and health system. We can see the poor condition of our health system. If it can be minimized then we don’t need to go overseas for treatment. If young entrepreneurs focus more on agro-based business, our country’s economy will never breakdown. All these can only be possible when we will cooperate to defeat the virus together. Let’s pray for a new better world forgetting the past mistakes.

The writer is a teacher at St. Joseph International School