Christmas Day is a time for celebration for people around the world, normally a day of coming together, acts of kindness and exchanging wishes and gifts just after the winter equinox. But this Yule time is also like no other, with plans all tempered by the coronavirus pandemic.
Just as with Eid Al Adha and Eid Al Fitr, Onam and Diwali, the normal gatherings and festivities we associate with such significant dates have been curtailed. We cannot travel to families and friends, we cannot gather in large numbers in homes, the celebrations will be subdued. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
By staying away, following the rules, doing our bit to ensure this coronavirus and its wicked mutations should not spread, we are indeed showing love and caring for each other. Now is not the time to gather, now is the time to protect.
This Christmas season, thank the countless frontline workers who walk this world in their uniforms, lab coats and personal protective equipment. Offer best wishes to each other. Smile. For the days get brighter from now on. Merry Christmas
For the past 10 months, we have all learnt to change our habits. Our working lives have changed, so too the security of our work, the tangibles we accepted as normal are suddenly changing, the foundation of our lives perhaps now based on shaky ground. But that should not change our essential being.
Throughout this pandemic, we have seen the indomitable spirit of the human soul, of courage and leadership, of devotion and dedication. We now know who are true heroes — putting their lives on the line to care for those struck by this pandemic. Around the world, countless millions of health care staff and professionals look after the ill and infirm, nursing and offering a human touch that transgresses plastic shields, hospital gowns and rubber gloves.
There are ordinary people who do extraordinary things, discover fonts of strength within to feed and nourish those less fortunate. There are researchers and scientists who have worked around the clock for months on end to crack the viral code of this virus — and they have succeeded.
While this is a season associated with one faith, it is a time too now to look back and see where we have been, what we have endured, how light was absent during our longest nights. But there is now hope.
This Christmas season, thank the countless frontline workers who walk this world in their uniforms, lab coats and personal protective equipment. Offer best wishes to each other. Smile. For the days get brighter from now on. Merry Christmas.
