Pardon me, I beg for your forgiveness right here, right now, because I know I am going to step on your sensitive toes. I know you are not going to like this, perhaps you would be right, perhaps you would be wrong, but please bear with me and take note that right from the start I have asked for your forgiveness.
The strain of Covid-19 has put the country in anxiety and the lockdown that has eventually been implemented by President Cyril Ramaphosa has come as a huge problem for many, particularly for the male species. For a lot of them it has disrupted their normal and daily routine, and I tell you this has become a big issue throughout the country. One of my fellows jokes that the virus is the only thing that has managed to do what women couldn’t in a lifetime. It has kept men indoors, it has cancelled all sporting codes (which men are passionate fans of) and it has closed all drinking holes. Women are rejoicing because thanks to Covid-19 they have got their men around and they get to see the other side of their partners that they have never seen before, and I stand up and rejoice with them.
I too, like them (women) am rejoicing that family and ‘quality’ time has truly become a reality to the female species, due to the pandemic. Men have started to cook for their families, they have started helping their children with school work, they have started to join in cleaning the household, and they have joined in watching their family’s interesting television programs. Jerrrrrrrr, they even know the scheduled times by heart. Some have even learnt to change nappies and put the little ones to bed, when would we have seen this happening in our lifetime if, were it not for Corona?
Never!
I am sure we all, by now, have seen the damage that this virus has caused throughout the world and there is no need for me to remind people about its seriousness. This virus is comparable to fighting an invisible enemy and the trouble with fighting an invisible enemy is that – you can’t see it. And when that same enemy is highly contagious – and potentially on any surface you touch and the air you breath – it’s easy to see why people are worried about contracting it.
My advice to men is to keep the current momentum going, I know that isolation is not easy but a man has got to do what is right (and not what he has got to do), and right now that is being under lockdown.
The Covid-19 pandemic and consequent lockdown is still in full swing and although there is uncertainty as to what the country will look like after the lockdown has been lifted, it is certain that we will emerge into a very different world, one for which we need to start preparing for today.
Keep Safe, wash your hands, keep to social distancing and best of all STAY AT HOME!
Lerato wa ha Serero…
(This is Sedibeng Ster’s Editor, Lerato Serero’s weekly comment. Look out for it every Wednesday)
