THE END OF THE PANDEMIC.

Since the past few weeks, the conversation of living in a post-pandemic world has dominated
Europe and the US. With the distribution of vaccines and reduced number of cases, many people
have simply assumed that it’s the end of the pandemic. But the thing is, it isn’t. As of writing this
Reflective Review, India is going through a record-breaking number of coronavirus cases, so is
Iran, Turkey and even Canada. Yet with how Europe and US-centric the world is, it just doesn’t
seem to matter.

No, it isn’t an emotional outcry for help. But what the world, or at least the countries that the
West considers to be a part of the world, does not realize is that if the cases keep rising the way
they are, the vaccines administered would be rendered useless within a year or two. And mind
you, a massive wave of coronavirus in India would impact the entire world, as India is the
world’s largest vaccine manufacturer. All I’m trying to say is that reduced cases of coronavirus
in the United States does not equate to the end of a pandemic: there’s a reason why there’s “pan”
in the word.

This just reminds me so much of “Us”. It’s that falsified, shallow, materialistic joy that the
everyday people enjoyed, living in a presumption of what they thought of as a good life. But the
reality is that the good life is just an illusion, it’s that boat waiting to break down any moment,
and you’ll just end up comparing yourself to others and superficially believing that life is good.
Just the same way as Josh and Gabe lived in a falsified, fairytale version of reality, and just the
way the world was so ignorant that a person got swapped and no one even noticed, so is the
world, just living the temporary pleasures of today, ignoring the warning signs of tomorrow.

This US and Europe currently are living in an illusion of a post-pandemic world. All the US
needs to do to realize the reality is to check the status of its neighbor to the north. It just chooses
not to do so. Ignorance is bliss.