Story behind the Passage
Yesterday, Germany commemorated the 80,000 Covid victims. It was touching to listen to the talks of the family members. No, it was not just “touching.” I do not know if there is a word for what I felt. But I know what I thought. I thought about what I would have done if they had told me that I could not get into the hospital while a loved one was dying there. I know that I would not have accepted it. I would have rebelled. “They would have had to put me in prison,” I said yesterday when I was watching. “I would have yelled at them and violated all hospital rules.” And this is how I came to think of Thoreau and “Civil Disobedience.”
My Learnings
No, you cannot go in here.
Call once a day.
If we do not call,
He is doing fine.
Hours of waiting,
Each day is war.
Holding hands via skype?
Impossible to do.
No, you cannot get in here.
Call once a day.
If we do not call.
He is doing fine.
Worries turning into anger,
Hopelessness is creeping.
How can a state,
Lock away the dying?
No, you cannot get in here.
Call once a day.
If we do not call.
He is doing fine.
If states are helpless,
They can do anything.
It is an exception,
But death also is.
No, you cannot get in here.
Call once a day.
If we do not call.
He is doing fine.
The hours pass,
And nobody calling.
Then the phone rings,
It is almost too late.
You can get here,
Only once today.
Since we called,
He is not doing fine.
Moving towards the bed,
A body coming to peace.
Yes, turn off the machines,
Bye, papa, farewell.
You did not deserve this.
Nobody deserves this.
Politicians did not want this.
Doctors cannot ignore this.
Would you accept it?
Would you behave?
Would you give up?
Would you resist?
Resistance is the beginning of war.
Things are as they are.
Still, there is room for change.
There is the need to rethink.
Please, let the right voices be heard.
Please, let those suffering rise.
Please, let politicians be wise.
Please, stand up for humanity.
There is peaceful protest.
There is loud mourning.
There is dignity in clinics.
There is civil disobedience.
Reflection Questions
1) How do you personally define Civil Disobedience and did you ever exercise it?
2) Were you affected by the lock-down of Covid patients or the elderly in hospitals and retirement homes? How did you cope with this or how do you think you would have reacted?
3) If you were a politician, what is one measure that you would immediately implement to improve the Covid situation in your country?
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