I would prefer social dancing but . . .

By Engr. Edgar Mana-ay

With all due respect to whoever has the copyright on the phrase “Social Dancing”, I would really prefer it even though I was never a good dancer, over the restraining and repressing “Social Distancing”.

But we are living in perilous and dangerous times with that invisible but deadly scourge of humanity infesting on a global scale, the so called Corona Virus Disease circa 2019 or COVID-19.

As imposed by our government, Social Distancing in turn has additional constricting ripple effects such as curfew, limited opening hours for markets and stores, distant lines in supermarkets , no back riding in motorcycle (how can a husband bring his wife nurse to the hospital when there are no public transport), closing of Churches and prohibiting the assembly of more than three people. This is actually total lock down, sugar coated by calling it enhanced quarantine.

Filipinos are by nature one of the most gregarious and sociable type of people on earth. We love to “tambay” at the corner street “imbornal”, greet anyone who passes us and even inviting them to sit by. “Hapit anay” is the favorite expression we utter from our house when we see someone we know passing by, although we really do not mean it especially if its nearing meal time. So when social distancing was imposed as a very important deterrent to the spread of COVID 19, even this writer at the onset, was questioning its wisdom and effectiveness and even its psychological effect on the Filipinos.

In the uphill and bloody fight against an invisible enemy called COVID 19, there are only two groups where we can choose to actively participate. Group A are our heroes of today. They are the so called front liners like the doctors, nurses, janitors and security guards at the hospitals, the soldier and police at the check points who imposes discipline, law and order especially for the “pasaways”, and our government officials from the governor down to the mayors and the barangay officials and tanods who will take care of our hungry kababayan affected by the lock down.

This  Group A (bless their souls), the front liners takes the brunt of the fight by exposing themselves to the deadly but invisible enemy (as of this writing more than a dozen front liners have died in the entire country in line of duty) and we should be forever indebted to them once the battle is won.

The second, Group B is where the rest of us belong, the young, the old, everyone who does not belong to Group A. Do not think that our role is MINOR in the difficult fight against COVID 19. This plague has yet no known vaccine nor cure, researchers will have to start from scratch but hopefully scientists can come up with something of an effective deterrent in the next 12 months, according to Anthony Fauci, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who had advised all presidents since Ronald Reagan on infectious diseases.

Meanwhile people at Group B are also heroes because it is us that will prevent the rapid spread of the virus in the absence of the right vaccine and medicine and hopefully flatten the exponential curve of infections and of course death because we have cut off the chain of transmission. Social distancing is the best and very important contribution of Group B to stop the exponential growth and spread of the virus. Once we, the Group B, truly adhere to the guidelines of staying home, we can almost level up to the heroic deeds of the Group A front liners.

“Just staying at home” seems dull and innocuous, but you are also sacrificing because our movements are restricted and to some, claustrophobic which is even worse than fighting at the front line. We are at a situation that the good of all hinges on the sacrifice of every Filipino whether you are with Group A or Group B. With the utmost cooperation of every Filipino, we can get over this pandemic and bring COVID 19 to its heel by end of April, God willing.

Just a month into this pandemic, our country is reeling from the worst economic slowdown in memory, it has disrupted our society, emptied the streets and plazas on a scale not seen even during Japanese time and the early days of Marcos martial law, separated people from work and family, pushing thousands of families to the brink of starvation and created tremendous stress to those staying at home.

But not dismayed because by sheer persistence, perseverance and cooperation, God willing, we will prevail and overcome COVID 19. And in the aftermath of this pandemic, a stronger in character Filipino will emerge, a communal and stronger bayanihan spirit ironically born out of social distancing, and even the often taken for granted correct washing of hands will now be ingrain in our habits. The new Filipino who overcame COVID 19  is now ready to overcome any disaster that will come in the future.

These words of Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962)  will provide our inspiration: “YOU GAIN STRENGTH, COURAGE AND CONFIDENCE BY EVERY EXPERIENCE IN WHICH YOU REALLY STOP TO LOOK FEAR IN THE FACE. YOU ARE ABLE TO SAY TO YOURSELF, ‘I HAVE LIVED THROUGH THIS HORROR. I CAN TAKE THE NEXT THING THAT COMES ALONG.’ YOU MUST DO THE THING YOU THINK YOU CANNOT DO.”