I was looking for narratives to replace the current ones. I wasn’t looking for escapes or tools of denial of the times but I wanted something to minimize the level of helplessness and feeling of insecurity. Something to moderate the spiking blood pressure of many people. Something to assuage the hearts not to give in completely to hopelessness because of daily news of murders and violent crimes. Something from history, seeing that some people are turning their eyes in that direction for whatever crutches they can find. For example, in this season of coronavirus, I know of people who went back to the season when Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, SARS, began to beat heavily on mankind’s shore. The conclusion those persons drew from the exercise was, if we beat SARS without even a vaccine, we would beat the coronavirus as well.

Some other persons even went beyond the season of SARS to the season of the Bubonic Plague. Despite its devastation, mankind eventually made the plague to bite the dust.

The fears of coronavirus were thus moderated even though the disease is still ‘flexing,’ like they say.

The mourning group is now a huge mix including those mourning the death of their loved ones in the hands of merchants of violence, in the hands of coronavirus, and countless others. But from the pages of history we have this audacious declaration, ‘Blessed are those who mourn…’

So there is a blessing for those who mourn? So the loss of loved ones to the hands of merchants of violence, or some other means, is some kind of qualifier for a blessing? So the tears, grieving and heaviness that dominate the passing of loved one, attract a special blessing? How many know what this blessing looks like and how it can be best appropriated by those who qualify to get it?