May 31, 2021 Commentary from a car seat
May 31, 2021 Commentary from a car seat: It rained all day. They are calling for some more thunderstorms. It is a holiday for some – those who are connected with the USA. Today we remember those laid their lives down for the myriad of wars the young country has seen from its violent birth. It is as if my city weeps for the fallen. The rain came in spurts, it cooled the air, sometimes a chilly wind seemed to blow through the soul. Remembering the fallen. Those who served in the American military. The militaries across the World remember their fallen on various memorial days and on those days rains across the World act as reminder of the tears. Today, in the slow and painful birthing of a post-COVID-19 World there are other fighters, those who remain true to no single color – be the tiranga or the thirteen stripes. This military swore to defend the oath written by Hippocrates. The oath to “primum non nocere” – do no harm – first and foremost. But in doing no harm, much harm has come to these fighters, some estimate that more than a hundred medical professionals have died in one of my cities. It is a riddle is it not, we remember the fallen of the military, some of whom follow the principle of loyalty to the ones to the left and right, “Semper Fidelis,” it is a “warriorhood that is lived.” Today we stand with the warriors of different wars because we engaged the war metaphor for COVID-19. Now it appears that the warriorhood that is lived transcends place and politics. Because we have a common and global threat to fight and win over. But the riddle remains precisely in how the traditional conflict between mottos such as “Semper Fi” and “Za nashu Sovetskyu Rodinu” will be superseded by the solemn statement, “Into whatsoever houses I enter, I will enter to help the sick, and I will abstain from all intentional wrong-doing and harm.” Whatsoever house, it matters not whose house or wherever, this is a universal oath, not just, for example, “For our Soviet Motherland!” How do we memorialize the fallen warriors of COVID-19 – those who were ill equipped to fight the war that was not of their choosing. The war that was thrust upon them by situations that were not in their control. How do we memorialize those who found themselves face to the face with our collective stupidity, and our failing of leadership as they screamed at the top of their voices “wear a mask” or now, “vaccinate,” to us and to the policy makers to develop the policies that would make the war winnable. They need to be remembered, they need to be memorialized and most importantly they need to be supported by us to fight this battle. Because we are the ones to the left and right of these fighters, we have to be semper fi to them, and whether they live or become memorialized is up to us and what we do. So on May 31st the rains across the World are the tears of many warriors, from the Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City to hallways of Kolkata Medical College. It is time to remember we are on their side, “Like a Bridge Over TroubledWaters” as reminded by Simon and Garfunkel.
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