Devotion
2020, the year everyone was waiting for. Looking forward to recreating the roaring 20s but instead it turned out to be the complete opposite. From the death of George Floyd, to the largest ‘peaceful protest in the World’ taking place in India for the farmers, the exit of Prince Harry and Meghan and Covid - the disease that made the world stand still.
A virus that was spreading quickly throughout the world, wiping out millions of the world's population.
World leaders making the biggest decisions of their careers, to lockdown the entire world to slow the spread. With the fear of hospitals running out of space and equipment to treat patients, they had no other option but to shut everything down.
Everyone was forced to stay at home. Parents schooling their children from home, working from home, if possible, whilst others losing their jobs (which meant the poor were getting poorer).
whilst others losing their jobs (which meant the poor were getting poorer).
The day that the lockdown was announced my first emotion was of ‘concern’. Concerned because everyone kept telling me that lockdown happening was highly possible, but I always laughed it off saying it is impossible.
I follow a lifestyle where I believe that I am in the Creator’s hands, as is everyone's lives, and no decision is made by us but by the Creator soley. However not everyone has this faith. So If I felt concerned about the potential of this virus then I can only imagine how others were feeling. Every tv channel you turned to was talking about it, Covid-19 was written all over social media, every conversation between people was now only about Covid. Everyone felt that worry of ‘what if I get it and die?’ ‘What if my kids, family or partner get it?’
The first few days of lockdown I became very comfortable sitting at home with my loved ones. Not having to do all the usual daily tasks, taking time out of the hectic life I was used to living. An unexpected break to just sit at home. At least that’s how it was for me. I rarely watch the news, I usually just get updates of anything major through family and friends. I was happy and content until one day I happened to come across a post on Instagram which opened my eyes to how much I was living in my own little bubble.
There was one profession that had no other choice but to put concern and worry to a side. The frontline workers didn’t get to choose if they stayed at home, they had to sacrifice their lives for the betterment of others. Some single parent households had no other choice but to go to work and make the sacrifice to come back home everyday because there was no one else to stay with their children.
I saw this post and tried to put myself in this ladies shoes even for a second. She first posted a picture of herself playing with her son. Shortly after, she posted this image, which was the stark difference which solidified my belief that nothing is in my hands.
That’s when it really hit home, as a mother, to think, what bigger sacrifice could a mother make than sacrificing their life for another’s. Sacrificing their life for a complete stranger.
Image by Cheol Joo Lee. Glimpse of hope. 2020. Digital painting.
Waving goodbye to their children, partners or parents and walking into the unknown. Not knowing if they will survive that working day.
This reminded me of the stories that I tell my children from Sikh History. Sri Guru Har Krishan Sahib Ji aged 5 (probably around the age of the ladies son) was fully exposed to smallpox when they made the sacrifice to go out and help the sick with no other thoughts and feelings about it.
And so looking at the bigger picture and thinking of the NHS workers, who sacrificed their lives and through such sacrifice saved countless lives, How much do we sacrifice for the betterment of all? Are we asked to put our lives on the line?