Is It 'Winter of Despair' Because of the Pandemic?

Volume 2, Issue No. 48

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail. com) and the Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . .

 Our latest as of Saturday, January 2, 2021 

~ Are we in the "winter of despair" as Charles Dickens had described it, or we're on the brink because of the coronavirus pandemic? We welcome the New Year and with its arrival comes prayers and hope we would overcome the challenges of the recent past that are still in our midst. In this era of the pandemic, we greet the Year 2021 with less ostentation and more caution for good reason - mankind's survival is at stake.

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2021 - THE 21ST YEAR OF THE 21ST CENTURY

The New Year and the Era of the Pandemic

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

"Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow:

The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true".  –Alfred Lord Tennyson 

TORONTO - The year just passed wasn't virtual. All the world around it was and continues to be. The pandemic era is also the era of the virtual.

Activities we took for granted have been snatched from us by that omnipresent enemy so deadly we can only pray and hope for relief. Little by little, however, science is on the vanguard to tame if not conquer the vicious beast altogether.

Now it's the second year of the decade of the 2020s, the 21st year of the 21st century, and the 21st year of the third millennium. That's a long challenging stretch from the time we saw the light of day and the many experiences, joyful and poignant, we've had that had accompanied them.

I am reminded of the following passage from Charles Dickens' historical novel "A Tale of Two Cities" where he wrote: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair . . . " 

Well, the "spring of hope" he adverts to is a good 77 days away on March 20, 2021. Hopefully, the winter we're currently in would not be a "winter of despair".

When the year 2021 came knocking at the door at the stroke of midnight, we quickly embraced it minus the fanfare. We were sobered while deep in our hearts we envision it to be fruitful in many ways, a score better than all the years prior, blessed, and back again to where we'd left off.

We rang in the new year with the pealing of church bells and a colorful explosion of fireworks in keeping with tradition, and ancient beliefs, that doing such things would banish the evil that had visited us the previous year and once expelled, to remake our lives again comfortable and happy.

We're caught in the moment thinking of a brighter future than we're currently stuck in. We dream of instances where, again, conversations mean sharing a meal, having coffee, taking snacks, or laughing over jokes. We ache for company beyond people around us. 

We fancy strolling, running, jogging, biking, or hiking in parks, urban forests, or within the neighborhood. We want friends to visit and us to visit with them at a moment's notice and drive to wherever our interests take us. Those are invaluable things we hanker for. 

Welcoming the New Year within the confines of our homes, constrained by rules intended to safeguard our own, and the community's health proves we could be content and compliant with what our individual circumstances dictate what to do. 

We behave, we follow the rules, we abstain from fancy festivities in favor of the austere enjoyment with family and close friends, and in the process, we rediscover the importance and loveliness of being with kindred folks. 

So different this New Year's day event was that we almost forgot we're marking the passage of time made significant by how it messes our lives and how we try to rebuild.

Not since last year when the word pandemic sneaked into our daily vocabulary. COVID-19 was unheard of then. But its full, horrifying meaning could be found in the millions of lives it has taken and infected. The disease has caused untold consequences in our way of life and in public governance.

We can not engage in the frivolities of the past, not even celebrate the holidays now gone and upcoming, or we let ourselves be susceptible to the contagion.

The "new normal" isn't normal when it displaces us, uproots us from individual and family relations, removes us from the simple day-to-day reality of living a life without fear, without the anxiety of being knocked off our usual undertakings.

Year 2021 would not be the same as the year before it. We will be more restrained in our activities, more careful than we have ever been, more cheerful in confronting life's challenges. (Copyright 2021. All Rights Reserved).