BY any standard, 2021 was a most intense and challenging year but with blessings as well. Being able to do something that takes the mind off the pandemic was helpful. Staying at home was the perfect time to bond with family. Reaching out to friends and relatives via email, Facebook, Viber, Messenger, etc. made it possible to stay connected in a way that didn't used to be possible. That's one great thing about upgraded information technology.
Reading classics, videogames and teleconferences were good distractions from the overwhelming coronavirus news. Blogging/vlogging earned good returns as new ventures. Prayers and meditation as well as Bible study helped to keep many enlightened and guided. Others were more into body building or physical exercise. Lots of change and growth indeed.
The felt Covid effect on food security led citizens to indulge in coping mechanisms, e.g., gardening for vegetable and root crops, planting easy-to-grow fruit-bearing trees, raising pigs and chickens, and catching fish and other edible species in wetlands, turning them into activists for nature in the process.
The past year of Covid-19 persistence proved politics and geopolitics fractious and the countless world meetings on climate, food and biodiversity left us aware of how much the world is still held back by old ways.
Yet we also detected many glimmers of hope for a better way forward — inspiring acts and much needed reasons to hope.
For one, governments around the world committed to decarbonization even when they did not have plans or even a deep understanding of what they meant by their promises. There is a lot of improvisation and experimentation under way though.
Most important of all, we saw the vigor of young people for action around the globe, initiated by Greta Thunberg's Fridays for Future movement ready to take up the challenges of climate change and sustainable development.
Inspiring acts
The bayanihan community food pantries. With the lockdown and people making known their immediate needs, someone in UP Village thought of a pantry for those in need. It was an amazing experience for recipients and donors alike.
They came on foot or in tricycles with whatever foodstuffs they could share. Private cars, jeepneys and even trucks came with more fresh vegetables and canned goods. Volunteers were ready to unload the relief goods.
The bayanihan spirit extended to queueing jeepneys with their masked drivers accepting assistance from passersby and abandoned workers in construction sites unable to go back home became the concern of caring neighbors.
The idea of a pantry in Metro Manila was replicated in scattered communities across the country, and those who participated described the experience as a wonderfully uplifting feeling of working together for the common good. In short, in a world turned upside down, the work took away the feeling of helplessness.
Finding meaning in life under all circumstances. Viruses are constantly evolving and Covid-19 sprung its surprise to an exhausted humanity in the Omicron variant. 2022 is the third year in which the pandemic has had a dramatic effect on life as we know it, especially for those who suffered so much pain, hardship, chaos and loss, or have struggled in some form during this difficult period. Can life still have a meaning under the situation we are in and even afterwards?
For Viktor Frank, a Holocaust survivor, life has meaning under all circumstances, even the most undesirable one; that our motivation for living is our will to bring meaning in life; and we have the freedom to find meaning in what we do or experience, or at least in the instance we take when faced with a situation of unchangeable suffering.
The threat of death by viral infection cannot be compared to what Viktor Frank suffered. He lost his family in concentration camps. He said: "When we are no longer able to change the situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. Each individual must seek his own understanding of whatever situation one is in. No one can give such meaning except himself."
The coronavirus pandemic had to happen and is inevitable. It is a way for planet Earth to heal itself by stopping human activities that hurt the natural environment. It made us realize that we can contribute something positive to save our dying planet and human lives by reducing pollution and conserving our natural resources. Sadly, persistent illegal logging and irresponsible mining operations have shown man's insensitivity to the meaning, purpose and the effect of the pandemic.
Be that as it may, among Covid 19-related memories, one that stands out for me is the confirmation that we have now a cadre of Filipino lawyers equipped with the wherewithal to defend the environment. As revealed at the recent webinar on teaching environmental law sponsored by ADB and the Legal Education Board, they came not only from Luzon but also from the law schools in the cities and towns of the Visayas and Mindanao. Many are young lawyers currently teaching the compulsory environmental law course and, at the same time, are active at free consultation, prosecution of law violators as well as handling defense of our activists for nature or nature fighters. Indeed, great news for UNEP (United Nations Environment Program) for its pioneering efforts at popularization of the newly emerged field of environmental law.
Embrace a new world
During the recent holidays, social media provided a lot of life-changing information about tomorrow, some of which actually arrived a few years ago. The most interesting ones are as herein described and shared.
Street corners will have meters that will dispense electricity... Gasoline stations will be replaced by electrical recharging stations... People would not want to own a car anymore. Simply call Uber/Grab with one's phone and a car will show up at the indicated location and drive to the desired destination. No need to park too. Former parking areas can be transformed into green parks...Cities will be less noisy because all new cars will run on electricity. Much clean air at last! ...Electricity will become incredibly cheap... A baby of today will never own a car and only see personal cars in museums.
Did you think in 1998 that three years later, you would never take pictures on film again? With today's smartphones, who even has a camera these days? Facebook now has a recognition software that can recognize faces... By 2030, computers will become more intelligent than humans.
There are companies that are into perfecting a medical device called a "Tricorder" (from "Star Trek") that works with your phone, which takes your retina scan, your blood sample and breath into it. Then it analyzes 54 bio-markers that will identify nearly any disease. There are dozens of phone apps now for health purposes.
In the US, young lawyers no longer get jobs. With IBM's Watson, one can get legal advice within seconds with a 90 percent accuracy compared with 70 percent accuracy when done by humans. There will be 90 percent fewer lawyers in the future, only omniscient specialists will remain.
Conclusion
With all those interesting transformative facts and predictions, let us emerge from this traumatic Covid-19 pandemic chapter in human history with better governments, better organizations and better people ready to move forward and embrace the new world. The future is fast approaching. Take advantage of the many positive and exciting opportunities that are offered to us and push for a world that is healthier, more resilient, sustainable and just.
Keep on living and surviving. The best is yet to come!
