Simplicty might be the tonic

We are now months into the Pandemic that has so far resulted in 5 million cases world wide and brought about economic hardship that is expected to take a significant period of time to recover from. Some people have lost loved ones and some their jobs and businesses and in turn many have had freedoms that they usually enjoy temporarily removed in order to “flatten the curve”, after all aren’t we all in this together?

Yes and No. We might all live on planet earth but it’s how we live and the beliefs we hold that determine the outcome here.

I read early on in this pandemic that COVID19 was brought to the poor by the rich as they were the ones who had the means travel and by flying all around the world, the rich were spreading the virus far and wide. But what is interesting to me, is that the countries that seem to have suffered the most through this, seem to be the ones where these very people live and really not the small poor developing nations that were originally feared to be.

These so called rich nations held strong to their beliefs that their health systems, access to pharmaceutical medicine, access to face masks, bottled hand sanitiser and weekly quarantini zoom sessions would pull them through until the miracle cure was discovered most likely by someone in the USA, China or Europe. They are still holding fast to that belief that the miracle cure is not far away. Can we get a clap for the NHS in the mean time, and can we make it snappy I have my next Tik Tok to record and online yoga starts in 7 minutes.

Meanwhile, the “victims” seem to have actually done something right. Many African countries were well prepared. They have seen mass spreading of deadly diseases and knew the value of acting quickly and so far it’s been a fairly good news story. Perhaps we are not hearing the whole story or the worst is yet to come but the pacific island nations are ready when we are to kick off their tourism again, as is Greece and many of the countries in eastern and southern Europe that often bear the brunt of the more prosperous nations jokes. They simply, live more simply.

But reading an article this morning that ridiculed an African country (that so far has no cases of COVID19) for promoting a herbal remedy not only irritated me but has got me thinking. Many of our pharmaceutical drugs are derived from plants so why is this such a stretch for us to understand the answer lies in nature? I think it comes down the the western world’s belief that it is somehow superior to other parts of the world because we have more money to throw at the problem and the best medicine comes out of a lab by people in white coats.

Humans are an innovative lot and many older cultures have a very strong connection to nature, they have survived a long time without formal chemistry, so are these so called rich nations now looking further afield? Or are they just swapping notes between themselves? Can Senegal, Cambodia, or the even the oldest living culture, the Australian Aborigines have a seat at the table? Can we leave politics and money at the door to look more widely for the vaccine?

If we can manage that, then we will truly be “all in this together”.Læs mere