A microbe's challenge to human race

It is unthinkable that in 21st century, the entire human race has surrendered to a contagious microbe in the fear of disease and death. This phase, will certainly be recorded in the history of human evolution, that human species which has risen to the top of the food chain in the entire animal kingdom of the planet, has submitted its fighting spirit and withdrew into a survival mode, in fear of death. Disease treatment, herd-immunity and vaccination are the only logical stages to fight Covid-19 or any such contagion in the future. Human race which has evolved from caves millions of years ago, cannot be sent back to caves in the fear of communicable diseases 

Most of the 'end-of-the-world' fantasy movies project giant monsters wiping out human race. Some show oceans rising, asteroids smashing into the planet, an alien attack on human species or a massive nuclear war, which ends it all. However, none has scripted a science fiction movie so far, on how a contagious microbe will challenge the entire humanity, especially in the most technologically advanced period of human existence, the 21st century.

It happened, and here we are today facing the seemingly biggest challenge to human race ever – the Covid-19. Since March 2020, the entire world has witnessed a 'freeze on human activity' like never in the recorded history. So far, there are close to 5 million corona virus infections and over 3,00,000 deaths world-wide. The rise of this contagious pandemic from China and its spread to the entire world in a span of 4 to 5 months, with a 3.4% of possible death rate is certainly alarming. However, the degree of global panic and quantum withdrawal from normal life and livelihood of human beings, looks certainly disproportionate.

In the recorded history of anthropology, there was never a period that human habitat and ecosystem was bereft of disease and death. Human species always co-existed with many forms of disease and continue to do so, even in the contemporary time of its existence.

There was simply no ideal habitat on this planet, free of disease and death in the entire timeline of evolution, from a single cell species to the current human form. Panicking the way, the entire global human community did, in response to Covid-19, certainly raises more red flags than few. There need to be a thorough study on sweeping reactions by all nations across the world, in facing up to the challenge posed by an inconsequential viral microbe, in comparison with what human race has fought in the past.

Is Covid-19 a single biggest challenge to humanity? I don't think so. The human community has been living with more regular and self-inflicted, mundane causes of death. Humans have been coexisting with many diseases which are triggered through less thorough upkeep of self and the habitat. The mammoth number of deaths due to social maladies and diseases in the world we live in, outsizes and outnumbers the infection and death rate of Covid-19.

World-wide deaths annually with social maladies and community disease:

l 1.35 million people die in road accidents

l 2.6 million children die of hunger

l 17.9 million deaths with heart disease

l 3.17 million deaths with COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease)

l 9.6 million deaths with

cancer

l 1.54 million deaths with Alzheimer's

l 1.59 million deaths with diabetes

l 1.4 million deaths with tuberculosis

l 1.39 million deaths with diarrhea

The above listed staggering deaths are a regular phenomenon across the world annually, and the numbers are only rising year on year. However, none of these deaths have shocked us to a level, where the entire human enterprise had to be paused and stalled.

The shocking fact of this over-reactionary global lock-down is, that everyone knows it is not a real solution. A transmittable contagion cannot be contained by locking oneself at home, it must be attacked either with treatment or a vaccination alone.

Our ancestors from distant past have faced deadly contagions too. It is not for the first time a contagion has infected humans. In the pre-recorded anthropological history, there were many kinds of plagues which hit all over the planet and infected all animals including humans. However, human race survived the onslaught through thousands of years and so did many other animals on the planet. The easier acceptance of death as a natural outcome, and through inadvertently developing immunity to these diseases over a period, was the only ingenious method in those times.

In very distant history in Circa 3000 BC there was a pre-historic epidemic. There were Plague of Athens of 430 BC, Antonine Plague of 165 AD, the Black-Death of 1346, American Plague of 16th century and 20 other deadly contagions infected humans. In the recent century Spanish Flu of 1918, Asian Flu, Swine Flu, AIDS and others have infected hundreds of thousands and led to massive number of deaths.

Traditional knowledge linked to understanding nature's cycles of balancing life on this planet, critical understanding of cause and effect of human behaviors, simple understanding and acceptance of life and death cycles, have allowed the human species in the past, to keep moving ahead.

Life is all pervasive, and so is death. I believe, it is all about the level of 'acceptance of death' and the prism from which 'life' was seen by our ancestors, which made it easier to fight adversity of any shape and form.

It is unthinkable that in 21st Century, the entire human race has surrendered to a contagious microbe in the fear of disease and death. This phase, will certainly be recorded in the history of human evolution, that human species which has risen to the top of the food chain in the entire animal kingdom of the planet, has submitted its fighting spirit and withdrew into a survival mode, in fear of death.

Disease treatment, herd-immunity and vaccination are the only logical stages to fight Covid-19 or any such contagion in the future. Human race which has evolved from caves millions of years ago, can't be sent back to caves in the fear of communicable diseases.

Contemporary societies, which are already facing social in-equalities, unemployment, skill-lessness, economic depravity can't be further pained and burdened, with reactionary and thoughtless homogenous actions, as a response to fighting a viral microbe. If this irrational global lockdown continues, human community will soon arrive into a critical phase, where death will be lot easier than the pain and depravity of fundamental physical and emotional needs.

Governments across the world should prepare and provide for better health infrastructure for all their citizens. They should inspire the human enterprise and drive more nature-connected knowledge and resilience amongst their citizens, to fight the odds to survive and thrive. Governments should stop, think and act with historic human insight, and not withdraw and surrender to a viral microbe.

There is no greatness of global leadership, if it were to destroy lives and livelihoods of billions through collective, overzealous, irrational and imitable policy frenzy.

(The writer is the chief spokesperson of the BJP Telangana State unit, a global leadership coach and an organisational strategist)