Lessons From COVID-19 [1]

I have been making notes on a daily basis for some weeks now, based on my studies on news items on TV and on social media.

I attended a conference in the last quarter of 2019, where a guest speaker quoted John Maxwell. He said that the decade 2020 to 2030 will be volatile, uncertain, and unpredictable, constantly changing and advancing. It is a dynamic decade. Those words turned out to be very prophetic.

The statement struck a note in my mind.

1. I learnt that your strength is only a measure of what you have conquered or can handle effectively

2. The tiniest thing you have not prepared for or anticipated can humiliate you, irrespective of your strengths elsewhere

This tiny virus has disgraced and humbled nearly all the world powers and their economic and military strength.

3. God is sovereign

Nobody envisaged what befell the world.

Now I won’t go into the arguments of how and what caused the virus, and I’m not saying that God caused the Pandemic, but the littleness of man was explicitly displayed.

Can you imagine the Canadian Prime Minister, the British Prime Minister, Prince Charles of the UK, and several other prominent citizens of the world tested positive for the COVID-19 virus? Even a Spanish Princess lost her life due to the virus. I was humbled to see the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, wheeled from intensive care to another ward. All the British army and navy could not shoot down the virus.

In Nigeria, our political leaders can be very proud and heavily guarded, but one of the most prominent of them, Abba Kyari, the Chief of Staff to the President, was infected. Abba Kyari was said to be very sick; we don’t know where he is.

The chairman of the ruling party, a very radical and controversial figure, has not been seen in public for some time now. Adams Oshiomole is in self-isolation; his rascality was curtailed by a tiny virus. He would have been all over the place running his mouth like a water hose from a fire truck.

The son of the former Vice President, Atiku, was infected with the virus and he was admitted with common Nigerians in the same hospital and country.

Governor El Ruffai of Kaduna State, just like his counterparts in Bauchi and Oyo States, were infected and they needed to self-isolate. The speaker of Edo State House of Assembly tested positive too, and had to self-isolate.

There was a very funny picture of Adams Oshiomole, all alone in a room, with a bottle of wine on his birthday. If not for a tiny coronavirus, the whole of Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, would have been agog; but a tiny virus prevented that. He, like all these prominent people, were alone without their security personnel and staff. All alone; they had to be served food like animals in cages.

I will still respect office holders and prominent people, but in reality, there is nothing about the human being.

Very prominent people died, young and old, in the best hospitals with the best doctors. The scientists said old people were more vulnerable, however a 106-year-old lady survived.

A pregnant woman was delivered of her baby by cesarean section, she and the baby survived but a teenager died in one country.

COVID-19 must teach us humility, because most of what we considered as our strengths and defenses failed us.

God Bless You.

Be Humble and Remain Safe.

Read Lesson 2 here.