Just Think

Just think

What if covid-19

Despite its pernicious variants

Was not the biggest item on your agenda

What if you were beset by more life-threatening situations

Like your society being overrun by terrorists

Who may barge into your home at any moment

In the dead of night or even broad daylight

And whisk you away at the point of a gun

Like an earthquake that has shattered the foundations of your existence

Leaving you and those you love homeless and destitute

With no guarantee of another meal or even a cup of water

Let alone a sheltered space to rest your weary head

Like a life of extreme poverty

Where starvation is a daily prospect

Where open sewers and festering rubbish dumps

Hotbeds of all manner of life-threatening diseases

Are environmental constants

In such circumstances, I bet

Covid-19 would not register on your radar

But you and your fellow travellers in misery

Are a massive petri dish

For the virus to proliferate and mutate and adapt

And unleash on the world

More infectious, dangerous strains

To cause disruption to my life

Disruption that my affluence and privilege cannot combat

Because the virus attacks the one thing you and I share

Our humanity

So, I have to reach out and rescue you

From the tyranny or disaster or squalor

That defines your life

So that covid-19 registers on your radar

And instigates action to protect you

And in so doing, I protect myself