Pandemic blues in our time

IT is almost cliché to say that the coronavirus pandemic is hitting all of us hard. But it still needs to be reiterated; even amid this supposedly festive last month of what has become a difficult year. At least, I simply cannot conscientiously squeeze out more positive sentiments out of my tired mind and beleaguered heart.

There is the pandemic itself, which is still undulatingly raging in most parts of the world, not least in our region; sometimes almost literally at our doorstep and perhaps even closer. It is undoubtedly too close for comfort as some of our friends and loved ones were unlucky enough to be infected with the coronavirus. I am, of course, no medical expert, but by now, it seems clear that some patients experience few or even no symptoms and recover after a few days of rest while others have to endure grave illness and immense pain; some, eventually, succumbing to the inevitable. I am, to say the least, very sad to have lost friends in both Malaysia and the Philippines.