Youth Talk Column

It was heartening to read the humane and sensitive viewpoints expressed by Zaidaan and Athena in the Youth Talk Column in last week’s Gulfweekly related to the Coronavirus danger that has gripped the world in our new year of 2020.

The teenagers have their hearts in the right place while commenting on the way a tragedy like the Coronavirus disease is being trivialised on the internet and social media.

Life and death are sacred and profound aspects of humanity-never to be toyed with or cheapened for the sake of concocting inane humour.

The ability to laugh is a priceless treasure entrusted to mankind - to lighten the heaviness of life for both oneself and others around - though never to be used in an inconsiderate or distasteful manner.

Those who make light of  death are those who have never yet had the misfortune of losing a precious loved one - never trudged behind a beloved parent’s hearse as a child, never kissed a dead child goodbye for the final time nor ever witnessed a young soldier breathe his last breath on a battlefield.

Young people like Zaidaan and Athena cause the flickering candle of hope to burn brightly with the noble sentiment: One for All and All for One.

In the unforgettable words of the renowned English poet John Donne:

No Man is an Island, Entire of Itself,

Each is a piece of the Continent,

A part of the Main...

Each Man’s death diminishes me,

For I am involved in Mankind,

Therefore, send not to know for whom the bell tolls, It tolls for Thee.

Editor’s note:

Well said Nivedita. Well said!