We have had great teachers in the past, but being such poor learners, we have learned next to nothing. Just ask teacher-come-lately Sir Coronavirus. He will tell us how many of us slip into mediocrity ever so often.
Experts tell us to adhere to health and social protocols. Don't go crowd-funding, they keep reminding us. But the recalcitrant among us are reminder-deaf and protocol-blind. They have eyes, but they do not see. They have ears, but they do not hear. Blame the politicking politicians who help us with their way of seeing and hearing. Don't go mixing, cry the epidemiologists, for a good reason.
But the politicking party diehards prefer to push the envelope. Someone has to tell them that Covid-19 isn't the box they have to think outside of. A few of them are in Parliament. Don't ask who put them in the august house. It isn't an overwhelming question. No, it isn't that at all. What we put there is what we deserve.
Yet, we wonder why the 4,000 or 5,000 Covid-19 infections occur daily. It has been often said we are at war with Covid-19, but how far are we taking a war-like approach against this enemy?
True, the Covid-19 is an invisible enemy. All the more reason for us all to get into the trench to fight a good fight. Instead, we are pulling in different directions. To go hither and thither is to let the virus in between. Instead of hindering the enemy, some of us are helping it. Why interfere with the method and discipline which are marshalled by the general? Be in complete accord with the ruler, undismayed by any danger, says Sun Tze in The Art of War. To kill the enemy, he says, we must be roused against him. Why aren't we so roused? Who are we at war with, anyway?
This learning disability isn't just affecting Malaysians. It is a disease that envelopes the Earth. And the affliction isn't limited to just Covid-19 either. Consider one that has gone beyond — global warming. We know that we have done something bad to the planet's climate — in the past 150 years, the Earth has gone 1°C warmer — yet we send a probe to study the weather in Mars. At great expense at that.
If that is not enough, free-market capitalists are doing all they can to put people in space for a hefty sum. The cosmos is going commerce thus. If the free market on Earth can't equilibrate, how can it there? For the cosmic capitalists, that is for the Earth-bound economists to worry about. Meanwhile, our beloved Earth cries as greenhouse gas emissions continue their climb.
Just two days ago, a Himalayan glacier crumbled in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, killing some and injuring some more. The glacier's message is crystal clear — men, get your priorities right. There are many things on Earth that need mending. Do that first before venturing to another planet, any pedagogue will tell us.
This notwithstanding, we chase the tallest this and the fastest that in space and here on Earth. Never mind if the Concorde airliner that broke the sound barrier went the way of the dinosaurs.
Men are still mad about height, speed and size. If only they were as ambitious in fighting the war against Covid-19.