Coronavirus is all over the news, all over social media, and everywhere. Now that its anyway here, we must all deal with it. We must be sensible, we must take precautions and be responsible.
At the same time, we want to keep sharing happy, inspiring stories. Of humans and animals and our planet. And we are going to add the hashtag #loveinthetimesofcorona whenever we share these stories. Of course, we invite everyone to share such stories with us.
The first story is from Italy, which has been reeling under the effects of Coronavirus. The country has been practically under house arrest following the spread of the disease. The Italian government has ordered extraordinary restrictions and all people are self quarantined to their own houses.
However, last weekend, Italians came out on their balconies. And started playing the national anthem. And then music of pianos, violins, even pots and pans could be heard from several balconies. On Saturday afternoon, a nationwide round of applause from the balconies happened, to appreciate doctors working tirelessly to help people.
Music filled the streets even without people actually being on them. They weren’t musicians but they wanted to be there for each other in solidarity, and wanted to help cheer each other up in times of gloom.
Images started flowing on the internet, of people in balconies singing and smiling. On social media, funny ads were going up. For instance, a teenager spraying perfume on himself liberally and then going on a walk to the kitchen. A father claiming how happy he was to do nothing and be at home, as bickering kids in the background drowned out his voice.
Italians were doing what they could to make each other smile.
Not just Italy, in China truck drivers risked their lives to take desperately needed food to the town of Wuhan. In Iran, doctors in full surgical wear and masks were seen dancing to keep up the spirits of the patients. Nurses have been seen collapsing out of exhaustion cos they have been working all day and night to help people!
There is a lot of things in humans we can still be proud of. And these Italians, the Chinese truck drivers, the dancing doctors in Iran showed just that.
#loveinthetimesofcorona
