Empathy, Balm to the Soul

Friends, unprecedented times need unprecedented measures. All the governments  of the countries of  the world are burning midnight oil to tide over the gigantic crisis at hand, that’s Covid19 pandemic. It is the matter of trial and error, no one is quite sure which is best way to proceed to tame the undaunted Corona. What we are as an individual to do to chip in and bring a positive and satisfactory change in the ongoing environment of gloom and morass. The one sure shot way is to  show empathy towards the people around us, to soothe  their frazzled nerves. Empathy is the quintessential balm to the troubled soul. It really pains my heart whenever I read about the callous treatment meted out to the  Covid victims by their neighbors and society at large. They are evidently ostracized, compounding their trouble manifolds .When the  death  rate from the pandemic is so low (2.2%  in India at present) then why treat them as pariah.  It’s not very hard to imagine what tribulations they are going through both physically and emotionally, why enhance it with the inhuman treatment we’re dishing out to them, perhaps unintentionally.
All the people around are fast turning alien to each other continuously suspicious about the next person standing, lest they contract  the disease from him or her. How can a social being like humans  lock  themselves up in a cocoon of their own making. Its indeed a blow to their  emotional stability. We  must reach over to one another  in whatever safe way we can. I would like to narrate an incidenct when  I visited the local market for some  grocery shopping, standing beside a pineapple cart, all my safety gears properly in place. My eyes suddenly fell upon a frail old woman fumbling with her money trying to be sure whether she  had enough to buy the fruit. Her whole  body was wet as if she had bathed in nearby municipal tap , only a faded, much worn saree draped around her. After a little hesitation I offered her twenty rupee note,  fearing to offend her as she hadn’t solicited for it. She took it silently , flipping it in her hands then told me in a meek voice that I must be her mother. I was overwhelmed finding such a paltry sum of money could bring such exalted status for me. As I  was almost through with my shopping, there wasn’t enough money left with me, hurriedly looked into my purse , found  a hundred  rupee note and promptly gave it to her, she was now embarrassed to receive it. When  I gently insisted her to take it, reminding  that she called me her mother and it was within my prerogative to do so that she silently relented. My heart bloomed to see a beautiful, shy smile hovering across her lips. Then she again repeated two or three times her eyes  shining, that I was surely her mother and slowly melted into the crowd.  I saw no more of her but I felt myself  privileged that she accepted the money with such emotion.
There was an instant human to human bond established between the two strangers, whom are unlikely to meet again but the happy memory  of it would linger in both their subconscious minds for a time to come. The empathy for each other is the balm which could ease the pain of turbulent times we are going through to a large extent. A simple phone call to the family of Covid victim neighbor or acquaintance, assuring them that one is there to help them or supplying the required medicines and groceries at their doorsteps may do wonders to calm their frayed nerves. Imagine the inhumane practice of ostracizing them, do  to their already flagging self confidence . In this hour of crisis the society can redeem itself by extending a helping hand to the embattered lot. A personal touch of empathy is the need of the hour to bring the humanity out of the clutches to keep the emotional wellbeing unscathed from the scare of the ghost called Corona.
Keeping smiling and helping out each other.
Adieu for now.