Connected
The advent of the internet suddenly turned the world into a small village. This is what we have been taught. This is what we believed. Hence, we grabbed our devices and learned to interact with each other from behind the screens.
We slowly withdrew from the real world. We created a parallel reality in this cyberspace, with virtual friends and virtual relationships. Each created an image of themselves, a well-crafted image, yet far from being a true representation of the real self. We were all trying to connect or reconnect, with new friends, with old friends and family members, in an era where migration and immigration have become a trend.
As the world became smaller and virtually more accessible, we were paradoxically learning to grow apart as human beings. We mastered the art of judging and looking for differences in “other” places, in “other” cultures and in the lifestyle of the “Others”. Stereotypes and prejudices became normalized as we framed people according to their race, gender, ethnicity or religion. Ignoring people’s pain, turning a blind eye or even hating “the other”, became the new norms. Why should we care? Their lives were so different... We were so different...
Until COVID-19 made its appearance…
The whole world suddenly discovered that we were not so different after all. We were all threatened by the same enemy. We were all experiencing the same fear and developing the same symptoms regardless of our color, religion, or the country we live in.
We suddenly realized that we were all humans; that we were all vulnerable.
A life lesson taught by one mighty foe. We watched people die all over the world with complete dismay, frightened that we and our loved ones, might be the next victims. Thus, we joined forces and reached out, even when all borders were officially closed. We sang from our balconies, we clapped from our windows in support for frontline health workers, we volunteered to provide food to the most vulnerable, we invented new ways to reach out to our families and friends and posted on social media to support people we didn’t even know …in China, in Italy, in North America, in Europe and in the Middle East.
We came together as one humanity when our lives came suddenly to a halt.
Today, we are all witnessing an unprecedented moment in history. We are experiencing mixed emotions of fear, agitation, along with a deep sentiment of empathy and appreciation… Empathy with the “others”, with their pain and their suffering, and appreciation for those who risk their lives to save ours…Appreciation for life that we once took for granted…
Today, we invite you to share your stories, your experiences in this extraordinary moment of our history. Stories about your cities, your families, your struggles, your fears and your ways of resistance. Stories about love, about support, about the reconnection with the inner self. We invite you to be a storyteller, for stories connect us all as humans no matter where we live or what we look like..
Today we all constitute one body ... this is our fight, and we decided to win by uplifting each other…
April 7, 2020