Times Of Swaziland: WE ARE AT WAR!

WE ARE AT WAR!
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The Editor on 28/04/2020 06:51:00


Sir,
When at war, there are only two goals; one is to defeat the enemy and the other
is to survive. Everything else is put to the side. Even your freedom is put to
the side. You must defeat the enemy and survive.
You cannot see them but the coronavirus is shooting bullets, and this war is
worse than any other war that we have known.
Because when a bullet hits you, not only may you get very sick or even die, but
unless you fully self-isolate then you may infect another who may get very sick
and even die. So unlike a typical war, the bullets do not just hit one person at
a time. A single bullet can hit (infect) many at one time.
Do not be fooled; until there is adequate medication that can minimise the
sickness of this enemy, or a vaccine to cure it, we will remain at war. But if
we self-quarantine, practise social distancing, wash our hands often, use
sanitisers and wear masks, we can somewhat prevent the enemy from continuing to
move forward and infect and kill more of us. However, the enemy will be waiting
to move forward again once we stop doing the aforementioned, so we need to be
very careful.
Lockdown
There is now a full lockdown in Manzini, and more full lockdowns will come. The
police and army (if needed) will have to enforce these lockdowns. I urge you all
to obey them and I urge the police and army to do so without violence. Do it
with reason.
Meanwhile, we all need to insist on providing everything needed to medical
workers because they are the most at risk. And maybe they are the difference
between life and death for anyone of us.
Enemy
First Italy was devastated, then Spain and then the UK and even America. These
are very powerful and rich countries but the enemy doesn’t care about that. It
doesn’t see rich or poor, it has the will to go after all of us, wherever we
are. We are now asked to take care of ourselves and survive, while we are also
asked to take care of others, even complete strangers, as if they are us. We
must implement what our ancestors have taught the world in order to survive -
Ubuntu.
So act now as if the war is here because it surely is here. The bullets are
flying and many, many more of them will continue to fly and hit their targets.
We need to defeat the enemy by doing our best all the time. One day this will
pass but it won’t be anytime soon. Don’t focus on the next year or so, that
makes it more difficult.  Just focus on the coming week or few days ahead, and
when that passes, do it again and again. The days and weeks will pass, and we
will then have defeated the enemy, this coronavirus.
Do you want to be one of the survivors and help others survive along the way? Or
do you want to be hit by a bullet? The choice is all yours, individually but
only together can we win this war. I will, personally, help in any way I can.
But be in self-quarantine and if anyone needs to speak to me, you may email me
as well: hswinters13@gmail.com. Unfortunately, wars have always been part of our
lives. Let us win this one the only way we can, together!
Howard