Do you help fight?
Seventy-four years after the end of the global war that changed the face of the earth, another war presented itself with equal devastation. This time, the front lines are not filled with foot soldiers in trenches. The weapons are not submarines, flying jets or machine guns. The military does not hold as much significance in this war. The enemy is not another fellow human being.
Rather, the enemy is a particle so small it cannot be seen by the naked eye. And yet its effect on humans is so destructive, it has crippled the economy like never before. It replicates and spreads faster than wildfire, taking down millions of the old and innocent in its path. Another predator has come. No one was safe.
On the street, the war appears as empty, desolate streets and isolation. Hidden behind walls lay the missing sounds of life. People keep at least a meter distance from others, fervently covering their mouths, avoiding contact as advised. They are wary. They are scared. They raid stores for supplies, almost selfishly. Their minds engulf with fear of the unknown. What if there would be nothing left? Science fiction books and movies predicted and taunted us with this, of an epidemic that will test the world. And it has finally come. The before feels like a dream now — as if the world fell asleep after the second world war and only now have woken up to reality. We should have enjoyed the dream while we had it. We can never have the before again.
For humanity, it was the hardest to accept that there was nothing we could do. There were no weapons to fight this enemy. The only tools for defence and damage control were scarce and expensive and so, it was impossible to provide for everyone. Hospitals struggled to deal with the onslaught of people needing treatment. Nurses and doctors fell one by one, becoming patients themselves. People died alone and the poor forgotten. To curb the rising tide of death, lockdowns and boundaries were enforced by governments worldwide. It helped for some but not for others. For most, the body and mind cannot help but succumb.
And yet it is the nature of the human spirit to keep on fighting despite the odds. Everyone waited and prayed earnestly for mankind to gain back the upper hand against these predators. Scientists pushed for our weapons to be created, using all of the research and technology this modern world has to offer. But when it finally came, it came with a question for each person.
Do you help fight or do you stay behind?
You see, to fight means to take the weapon and point it, not directly at the enemy, but on yourself. A new fear appeared. What if this weapon will also hurt me and not just the virus? Here comes the actual test.
Many have refused and understandably so but millions more without fail rose to the occasion. Every person became a soldier with their own battle, bravely taking the chance and the responsibility. By accepting the vaccine, their bodies became the guns and their cells became their bullets. They transformed into the weapons the world needed to fight this war, turning into the literal shields that protected their loved ones from harm. They fought for themselves and others who cannot. They shared the burden with those on the frontlines.
Slowly and steadily, everyone joined together toward a common goal, of creating immunity, of manifesting this invisible wall that will block the enemy for good and restore the world to its normalcy again. Soon we will succeed as long as we work together and just like the wars of the past, this war will become just a page in history books — something to think about, something to learn from, and something that will never be forgotten.
