(Click here for the previous essay.)
The headline is a thought which came to my mind when Gates resigned from the Microsoft board to focus on his philanthropy work. I will come to that later.
The borders are closing. People are scared.
It's reported that China no longer has its domestic infected cases. All newly diagnosed cases are from inbound travelers. So China has started to apply the most stringent quarantine procedures for anyone arriving from 24 countries and that list of countries is expanding as the virus continues to spread rapidly outside of China.
Is it possible the virus will find its way to creep back into my current "safe" surroundings again?
Yes, that likelihood is not small. Perhaps except those from or in Hubei, no one here has built up the immune system. So, as long as the world is still suffering from this virus, how can China remain safe? How can anyone anywhere remain safe?
The situation has been developing so fluidly, many of my European and American friends and colleagues who have stayed outside of China in February due to travel restrictions of their home country now find it difficult to travel back to China.
Two months ago, everyone knew as long as we stayed away from Hubei province directly or through exposure to others who traveled to Hubei, the risk of getting the infection was extremely low. Now, we no longer know where the contagion might come from. The international schools in China, like all other schools in China, are still closed. But that concern, although my 11th grader son has been under home quarantine for months and may lose his precious time to prepare for college application, seems to have become trivial. The tide has shifted so quickly that it is no longer a matter of when schools will restart, or how the economy will survive.
The matter is now how we humans will survive this pandemic and its seismic aftereffect.
During the earlier days of home quarantine, Alan introduced me to a game called Plague Inc.
Such a morbid game! The mission of the game is to erase humanity. The player is the plague. When I played the game, I naturally named the plague Coronavirus. You win when you erase humanity.
Coronavirus in this game is very very smart. It gave no symptoms, so it can invisibly infect as many people through as many vehicles as possible.
Soon after the virus starts showing symptoms, mortality goes up, very quickly. But that also triggers humanity to start to fight back.
Humanity eventually wins. But always, in the game, it only wins if all countries fight together!
Now, forget about the game. The reality seems far worse than the game.
We live in the best time of all times. Because in the past when a pandemic struck, our ancestors didn’t have modern science, didn’t have modern medicine, no big computing and manufacturing power, diseases spread and spread while we humans were hopelessly powerless.
But, this could also quickly slip into the worst time of all times. Because of the sheer size of our population, the speed this virus could move at, the scale the disaster could become, and most importantly, the complacency - unpreparedness we humans have in our nature. With all the life style we have been enjoying, the globalization we have been embracing, the concentrated powers and wealth some have been accumulating yet many people feeling they have been left out in the global boom, when one person of high power does something stupid, the stake could become unimaginably and unbearably high.
The borders are closing to stop the migration of the virus. Our freedom for physical movement might be the price we must pay for now to curb the pandemic. But why is extreme nationalism and isolationism also increasingly rearing the ugly head into our society when we can the least afford such?
I don't understand how so many people can be so gullible! There are ugly forces out there, much more dangerous than the virus itself.
Anger, fear, extreme poverty, and hatred may start to drive xenophobia, racism, and all kinds of crimes, turning our society backwards into a dark hole that may take a long time for us to climb out again.
What can governments do? They can at least stop fanning hatred among races, and countries. They can start to work together for solutions! China has accumulated enough experiences and precious data of fighting the virus to help the world. America still has the strongest technology and medical resources to find a cure quickly. Europe is the cradle for modern science, art and philosophy, and remains crucial to hold the torch for finding courage, solutions, and solidarity.
What can we, as ordinary citizens of the world do? More than ever we shall use our brains to exercise judgment so that we are not abused by politicians who are most interested in consolidating power; and more than ever we shall use our heart to exercise compassion to love humanity regardless of origin, faith, and race.
We have no choice but to rise up to act as one.
This is the time politicians, those in high power, can act together in the spirit of One World, One Humanity.
Sadly some of them will inevitably take the opportunity to flex their muscles, for their own ego, their own fear and greed.
I sincerely wish them to go down, but I ask that they spare humanity.
This is not a playground of playing games.
Why, instead of working together, politicians, the so called leaders of this world, are arguing like kindergarteners!
Never before I feel, men, especially those in highest power, they never grow up!
I truly hope that we ordinary people individually and collectively overcome our own impulsiveness and stupidity.
Never before, the virtue of kindness and altruism is called upon!
In the comfort of believing: The sun will rise tomorrow, and good will prevail!
Xiangwei
Shanghai, March 20-21, 2020
Ps.
Am I sounding a bit too pessimistic?
Back to my headline, I would like to vote for Bill Gates to become the next President for United States. He actually predicted it early on that this is the pandemic of the century. Nobody listened. He actually knows how to bridge differences, foster collaboration among countries, and find real solutions to solve real problems. somehow I feel he would have the power to take us out of this crisis, because at this moment at least, he may be standing at a level to see the greater good above his own.
The problem is that he didn’t run. He may not want such power. But that’s exactly why it’s good.
