The stage setting on our global ship is quickly shifting, and we have no clear coordinates. We are simply sailing, and trying to save the ship. Rules and limitations change every day, while the storm is raging.

Writen by: Dr. Amet Ibro

In the pre-Covid era we were in an overwhelming rush. Chronically lacking time, we were invested in things which seemed so important, sometimes not having the time for those we hold closest. And then a tiny little being came to the scene, one that can’t even procreate itself, it needs us. And as all living things look for a way to survive, this little mutated virus kept going. From Wuhan in the Hubei province, it conquered the world. The stage setting on our global ship is quickly shifting, and we have no clear coordinates. We are simply sailing, and trying to save the ship. Rules and limitations change every day, while the storm is raging. We were the front-runners in this storm, the healthcare workers. The news has been filled with hero tales during the past 8-9 months. It’s all newspaper and blog headlines about doctors at the battleground with the corona virus. Confessions of anaesthesiologists, intensive care unit staff. And actually, these are people who are simply doing their job the best they can. Obituaries  are full of these people, and they are slowly being forgotten. What about bakers, pharmacists, cashiers, street cleaners… who weren’t on the front pages?  What about grandmas and granddads, aunts, uncles, parents… We’ve come to the point where Covid is teaching us how to live. It’s awakening that which is innately human in us. Awakening the little knight in all of us, who is waiting to make the world a better place, even for a little while, with its selflessness. The knight who will make the students work hard, even from home. Understand what is and what isn’t important to our lives.

A hero, who will show us to lift our sights off our phones and TVs and make us think about each individual life on our global ship. Save the grandparents, and we will save them. We will continue to do our jobs, no matter the storm, as we are not afraid of thunder. And you? Try to discern the necessary from the unnecessary. Understand the distinction between habits, needs, and demands, and relativise them. Understand that isolation is also relative, because we are irrelevant if not for one another. Have some freshly made home made bread. The storm will calm down, and when it does, we will never be the same.

Dr Amet Ibro, gynaecologist, works at several hospitals in Kosovo