A little help from Vietnam
By James Z. Carpio
There was a news report from years back that a Philippine fishing vessel was in peril out in International waters. Who helped the Filipinos?
Well, providentially, there were Vietnamese sailors who took them under their wings and brought them back safely to shore in the Philippines. Our sincerest gratitude indeed.
The national government warns that if what happened in the public places wherein safe distancing was violated, people would end up on the streets. Lifeless. Yes, that is possible. It happened in Ecuador.
Early on, the high risk of a second wave occurring in a recovered country is quite probable. People must have missed out on the report about what happened in Singapore.
Reports now state that Japan, South Korea, and even Germany experienced varying degrees of a second wave. A Japanese health expert warned to much his chagrin that cases spiked a thousand percent in a specific prefecture.
Transparency and truthfulness is appreciated so that we could really help one another.
Hypothetically speaking, if Wuhan back in the day in October of last year sounded the alarm then all nations could have helped Wuhan.
India divulged few confirmed Covid-19 cases. Investigative journalism shed light on the matter. Indian doctors shared that deceased people are no longer tested because they are saving testing kits for live people. In protected identity videos they categorically reported that there are many people getting sick. Now, reports show that they have overtaken the cases in China.
How could we help one another if in the first place one would not report accurate statistics. A problem acknowledged is a problem half solved. If you need 100 ventilators but you report that you only have 10 cases then the discrepancy would just aggravate the problem.
The Health Minister of Brazil already thrown in the towel. He did not specify the reason for his resignation. The Leader of Brazil is a staunch strategist for economic priorities.
In Greece, they are an unlikely success story. They prioritized health over the economy. And, they would like to see tourism under careful implementation and coordination thereby start the ball running in a few months. Their economy is mostly tourism-based.
Now, the good news. There is really light at the end of the tunnel. After an excruciating process, Italy will begin in the near horizon Catholic masses in churches.
You would only realize how lethal the virus is until you had it. Survivors are proofs of how a painful ordeal and recovery they had to go through after being positive of Covid-19. One survivor, a young athletic Australian man said that until now he has breathing problems.
You want freedom?
You can have freedom.
However, do you want to be healthy, working, and freedom? Because the other freedom is not all reassuring. Freedom in that scenario is a catastrophe waiting to happen. You have your freedom but you are so close to another person whom you do not know is a carrier of the virus and that person could contaminate 100 other people just a breath away.
So, again the good news, I should like to present The Vietnam Model. They have meager resources. They are not yet a fully-developed nation. However, against all the odds they have minimal cases. And they are cautious still. To cut the story short, they made it.
How did they do it?
They implemented the same standards comprehensively. What they have done are the same things that are being followed by most successful survivor nations of the virus.
Nothing new, they have no vaccine as of this writing. They did not reinvent the wheel. They followed the standards to the letter. They dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s.
The only pivotal factor in The Vietnam Model is good compliance. There was a tremendous support and consensus from the citizens that what their government is strictly enforcing is for their own collective good.
Elementary really, they wear mandatory face masks and taken into heart safe distancing. A Vietnamese man commented that he would rather give up his freedom for now than be sick and die. Now, he says their freedom is back and they guard it like a faithful soldier guarding a camp tower in the still of the night. Vigilant and determined with a conviction that discipline, honesty, truthfulness, responsibility would outsmart a virus.
Duty is doing something even when no one is watching. You know that you ought to do it because it is the right thing to do for yourself, for others, and for God.
Once again for emphasis, the Vietnamese people won another war because of phenomenal compliance. Following the rules and regulations dutifully like what every responsible law-abiding citizen of any country should be doing.
It is like being on time. You are not early. And you are not late. You are just on time. A lesson on precision.
With that I should like to end, that time is of the essence. Time is gold. Every millisecond counts. Every second counts. Every hour counts. Every day counts. Every month counts. Finally, every year counts. Why? Because your life counts. If you do not act now then remorse and regret follow. Love your life. And, think about the One who gave it to you. Our loving God, Jesus, the Truth, the Way, and the Life.
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