COVID-19 has definitely shook the world. No country really has control over the deadly virus, and the distress level just keeps going up exponentially across the different levels of society globally.
It just gets scarier by the day.
The response from the people varies depending on where they are and the local criticality of the situation.
Europe is basically on the verge of shutting down with few countries already on a lockdown. The Asian economic giants up north such as South Korea and Japan continues to combat it as best as they can. Travel bans are announced everywhere with entries from high risk countries denied entirely.
All these measures are taken to enable the only control to curb the spread of the virus known and available thus far – containment and limiting exposure.
The virus does not care who you are; whether you’re a janitor, a famous actor, a football player, a pious teacher, a CEO, a board member or a world leader – no one is spared. While the elderly and the sickly has higher exposure, let me just repeat myself, the underlying fact doesn’t change, no one is spared – period.
It’s perplexing sometimes to think how certain people still believe they are immune to the virus, doesn’t take any safety precautions or when knowingly exposed, roam around not respecting the controls imposed by the authorities to ensure the spread of the virus is contained and managed.
To me – this is just irresponsible and selfish.
Frankly, I couldn’t care less what happens to these kind of people, but it’s the innocent people who are put at risk because of their arrogance is the problem, and it is really telling of the kind of person he/she is.
Compared to decades ago, back in the 90s when I was in school or at the start of the millennium during the early years of my career, the world today is so connected. ‘Freedom of speech’ has become a part of life without us realizing it, with social media now being deeply embedded in our daily lives.
Keyboard warriors appear everywhere, writing some of the most bizarre comments or opinions. If we were to meet some of these self proclaimed experts in person, they probably don’t even dare to give an opinion on what to have for dinner.
We might assume its only the younger generation who does this but in actual fact it applies across all age groups, ethnicity, religion, rich or poor – name any categories, everyone’s the same.
The reality of the world today, no one can change it – good or bad, everyone can be the judge of it.
I also can’t take away the fact that all these connectivity is the same reason why I could write this post.
But COVID-19 is no joke and the messages or opinions going around on it, shouldn’t be a joke either. At this critical juncture, it shouldn’t deviate from the key mission of communication – the safety of human kind.
For the sake of discussion, even if one were to argue from a religious standpoint, Muslim scholars agrees that preservation of life (nafs) is of utmost importance as it forms part of the objectives (maqasid) of shariah. Islam dedicated a significant amount of texts and teachings on preservation of life as a fundamental principle of the religion. We must take the necessary steps to protect it.
Hence, the conspiracy theories, the implicit analysis, the unnecessary political/religious sensitivities and all the other irrelevant information – is not needed at the moment.
Right now everyone has an individual responsibility, to yourself, to your family and to the community. We need to play our respective parts in ensuring we come out of this calamity safe, together.
And it is during these times that communication self-management is important. You need to realize whatever information or messages you share out represents a message of yourself – it represents you, telling everyone else whether you are a responsible citizen who cares for everyone (a true Muslim), the extreme of a selfish person who only cares for him/herself or anything in between.
Messages can be in many forms – informative or communicative. To give you a feel of a meaningful message during this critical times is the thank you note from patient #33 to the medical staff as published in the Malay Mail:
https://www.malaymail.com/news/what-you-think/2020/03/14/covid-19-a-big-thank-you-patient-33/1846501
Coming back to the situation at hand, as I was writing this post, there are 41 new confirmed COVID-19 cases, which brings the total to 238 cases compared to 197 the day before (it was 149 the day before that).
So my message to everyone today is to touch our hearts before sharing information out and asks ourselves – whether it will make the needed difference or just confuse people and bring them further away from what they need to know.
#1 Be clear of our intention.
Ask ourselves why are we sharing or writing the information out. Do you really want to help or just want to jump on the bandwagon for fun. Worst still if you are just adding fire to an unnecessary and untimely topic, which is probably a non-issue to start with.
“Indeed actions are according to their intentions, and every person will have what he intended.”
Bukhari
#2 Be clear of the information.
What are the kind of information you want to share and for what purpose – is it to help manage the situation or is it a call to action to try and make things better (in a way this posting is an example of call to action).
If it is none of these, then you better think again.
#3 Validate authenticity.
While these days, it may be difficult to do with so many fake news running around at the light of speed, we should try our best to ensure we only share authentic information out. If you happen to find out later that an information you shared is fake, then step up, make that correction.
There is no point of creating unnecessary panics (or the total opposite) with wrong facts.
#4 Be sensitive.
Don’t act like you can say anything you want especially without having facts in your hands. There are real people out there who are impacted by it, who are living with it or their loved ones living with it (or may have died because of it). You are only able to say out your mind because it hasn’t hit you.
Stop being an insensitive arrogant human being.
#5 Be responsible.
When communicating or sharing, be a responsible person – you are responsible for whatever you say to people, and whatever impact it may have to others. Remember one day, you’ll be asked about it.
On that day We will set a seal upon their mouths, and their hands shall speak to Us, and their feet shall bear witness of what they earned.
Ya Sin 36 : 65
If you don’t have anything good to say, then you don’t have to say anything. Sometimes it is better to shut up.
Abu Hurairah (RA) reported: The Prophet (SAW) said, “He who believes in Allah and the Last Day must either speak good or remain silent.”
Muslim
So – ask yourselves who you want to be, who you want to come out as during these difficult times, because what you communicate out tells the world a message of you – it tells the world who you are.