Through hard and Strange Times

It's rough and strange times indeed. From COVID-19 to floods to cyclones to crunching economies,  the past three months had been a tough one and continues to be one. The year 2020 saw many mishaps and misfortunes unroll to the human race. But on the lighter note, inspite of all these it's a miracle that we are still alive to be part of this strange times when millions of precious lifes are taken by this straange times.

And not surprisingly, Bhutan has stood afloat, has been doing pretty well in the midst of all these and we are even more fortunate to be Bhutanese. Life as a  Bhutanese has had a very little change, thanks to our tireless and selfless efforts of  Bodhisattva king. Bhutan still hasn't seen any local transmission yet of COVID-19 and we are still in the orange zone. And for that we are forever grateful. The tourism industry being one of the main pillars of economy was the worst affected, but because of visionary king, even it is being taken care of in the form of Royal Kidu. Where in the world is a leader who travels across the country overseeing how his people are coping with such strange times? Where in the world is a leader who waives off the interests of loans for Months? Who walks through rough terrains and through floods to ensure his subjects are safe and sound? When most of the leaders are inside the comfy shelters, our king, despite becoming a father himself just recently had been on the constant move to monitor as to what can be done to keep this pandemic at bay. Therefore if we have king, we have everything. Thank you your majesty.

This pandemic has taught us many lessons. It knows no boundary between the powerful, big or weak and small country and it doesn't differentiate between the rich and poor. Even the healthiest economies saw them getting stretched to the ends. It has forever changed the normalness of our life, our approaches to everyday life. Perhaps this is the biggest wake up call for us collectively as a human being to co-exist as one big family of this mother earth. This pandemic gave life to many beautiful things; it has healed the overloaded mother earth. For the first time the Himalayan mountains were visible from somewhere in the Indian plains of Delhi; for the first time the oceans and waters became clear and lively with the fishes and for the first time Beijing's air quality rose up record high. So this pandemic although has taken lifes of many, it has in a way balanced the very co-existance of all on this earth. 

On the individual level, this pandemic has also provided unintended gifts like, time for oneself to reflect and ponder, time with family and friends. Otherwise we are too carried away by so-called work that we often forget what is and who's back at home; we forget the fact that it's only the family who stands thorough thick and thin with you. We are too busy with deadlines and schedules of the work. This pandemic has seen families coming together; it has brought back the smiles and laughter within the family.

So as being the fortunate, the least one could do is to abide by the government's directive. If one can't help, at least don't harm, don't betray his majesty's trust. We can never let down the hard work put in by our king and the government. Otherwise one's small carelessness could cause huge to the country which we can't afford. Always safe than sorry!