Human lives are not mere numbers

By Joshua Corcuera

 

I have read the conversation below in the opening pages of After the Quake, a collection of short stories by renowned Japanese writer Haruki Murakami. He also indicated that the exchange of words was from Pierrot le Fou, a French film by Jean-Luc Godard.

 

Radio: … garrison already decimated by the Vietcong, who lost 115 of their men …

Woman: It’s awful isn’t it, it’s so anonymous.

Man: What is?

Woman: They say 115 guerillas, yet it doesn’t mean anything, because we don’t know anything about these men, who they are, whether they love a woman, or have children, if they prefer the cinema to the theater. We know nothing. They just say … 115 dead.

 

The number of total coronavirus cases in the Philippines has surpassed 300,000 last Saturday, September 26 this year. Even though hundreds of thousands have recovered, the grim milestone is still devastating to hear, especially that more than 5,000 lives in the country were lost to the highly contagious illness. In the region, the Philippines is one of the hardest-hit countries by the coronavirus. At the same time, the country has one of the sharpest drops in economic growth as well compared to its neighbors, with millions left unemployed and many pushed to the abyss of poverty.

 

Beyond reasonable doubt, many lives were deeply affected by this public health crisis in our country. Still, some people boast that we have one of the best responses to the pandemic citing that we are not as affected as America or most of Europe where tens of thousands of lives have already perished. In other words, the statistical comparison serves as the basis as to why we have responded better to the crisis.

 

Comparing numbers between countries is a dangerous thing. Instead, we must look at our nation’s crisis by itself.

 

It would be very insensitive to say that 5,000 deaths are a low number because these 5,000 lives are also humans just like all of us. If you think that the number of lives lost to the coronavirus in the country is low just because other countries have a higher number of deaths, then it is imperative for you to ask this question: Would I still feel or think the same if one of my friends or relatives?

 

Those five thousand lives can be anyone of us. Some of them could be a young child dreaming of a brighter future or teenagers who are living their life to the fullest. Some of the five thousand who succumbed to the virus could be a young adult enjoying every moment of life while balancing work. While others could be newlywed investing for the future of their family, or a father or mother whose mere presence is relied upon by their children. There are also senior citizens, people whose experiences can shape and inspire the youth, who lost to the illness. Besides these age groups, some lives lost to the virus are well-respected professionals — lawyers defending the oppressed, doctors saving lives, engineers building structures, and so on.

 

Indeed, it’s awful since the lives we’ve lost to the virus are unknown to us. We barely know who they are but one thing is certain: they’re not mere numbers, they’re humans just like us. Henceforth, we must constantly remind ourselves that a single death is already a tragedy. How much more when there are thousands who lost their lives, some of which were gone too early, partly because of our failures in handling the public health crisis? One death is one too many, we must stop looking at COVID-19 deaths as mere numbers and statistics and compare them with other countries to tell who was better in handling the pandemic. After all, humanity is greatly affected by the pandemic and it’s essential to put an end to it in the near future.