اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية
The world woke up to the news of the outbreak of the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, which quickly shocked the whole world with its deadly results. The public life of human beings globally stopped after countries imposed strict health and proactive measures. Suddenly, people found themselves imprisoned in their homes, completely cut off from their work and activities. Lebanon was one of the first countries to implement nationwide lockdown and impose home quarantine on its residents. I have to admit that the state of quarantine was very strange to me and many other people. It has worsened the situation, especially in Lebanon, as we are suffering from a critical economic crisis and a severe shortage of work opportunities since the beginning of 2020.
My work as a gradual lawyer was permanently suspended after the closure of all courts and official departments. My psychological state deteriorated, and waves of anger, tension, excitement and frustration escalated. My free time made me feel more bored and uncomfortable in this situation. So I resorted to watching series for long periods, and luckily I found many of them on NETFLIX. I watched the Spanish series called “La Casa De Papel”, and a famous American series that tells the story of a smart and cunning lawyer called “Better Call Saul”. However, due to home quarantine, the use of the Internet service increased, making the connection very poor and slow and impeding the watching of the series. That caused more discomfort and anxiety because the internet was the only breather, and it was very bad. But finally, we had to pay more money to improve Internet service.
During this period, my sleep times changed considerably. I used to stay up all night from 2 am until 7 am while watching movies. The bad feeling of sleeping all day and waking up at sunset cannot be described. I used to get prepared for spending every evening with my three friends. We used to spend all night playing games like FIFA 2020 and NBA 2020 on Playstation4, wasting time and changing the quarantine style a little.
But after a while of feeling bored from watching series, I switched to my traditional reading hobby. I started with a book recommended by a friend for John Perkins called "Confessions of an Economic Killer". I finished reading it and read a few other novels byJohn Grisham. That was to avoid some family issues that sometimes happen because of the quarantine. I used to feel monotonous about everything related to the family because I spent all my time at home where some burdens and responsibilities laid on my shoulders. I was responsible for everything because my father and younger brother were busy with their work in the grocery.
The most significant home responsibility was to look after the garden, arrange it, replant the roses, prune and decorate the trees. It has become my primary concern every day as I wake up early and vigorously to start something new. I used to divide the work into phases to make myself busy every day and deliberately work to spend the longest time possible during the day. I also decided to benefit from the vacant spaces behind the house, so I ploughed and cleaned the soil, to grow necessary vegetables. This decision came for several reasons including filling free time with fun and beneficial activities, obtaining healthy products and saving money amid the economic crisis and increase in prices of vegetables and food. When I started to cultivate the land, tillage and cultivation made me nostalgic for old times. I felt overwhelmed with the feeling of happiness that I had lost in the past 10 years after we stopped growing and eating from our food garden. Here I confess that, had it not been for the home quarantine, I would not have restored my passion for agriculture. The lifestyle before the pandemic did not allow me to think about cultivating and using my land again. My enjoyment grew as I became persistent in caring every day for seedlings, watering them regularly and spraying the necessary pesticides. I also learnt how to use organic materials to help plants grow. I cannot hide that I learnt these skills from my neighbour who is a displaced Syrian and has a vast experience in agriculture because he is a farmer and owns agricultural land and fruitful orchards in Syria. This quarantine has indeed benefited me a lot.
On the social level, I stayed in home quarantine to the maximum extent. However, I never stopped communicating with friends and relatives through social network sites and visits while adhering to all preventive measures like maintaining social distancing, avoiding gatherings and meeting with people in workplaces. Despite all these measures, I often used to buy drinks and go with one of my friends or relatives to the field in my village, Bar Elias, which is distinguished by its beautiful nature and fresh air. We used to enjoy drinking and listening to music near the running river between the fields. At the beginning of April, I went with my cousin to my grandfather’s orchard far away from the town. We went in the early morning and boiled the coffee on burning wood between pine and cypress. Then we started wandering in the promising vast plain.
As quarantine continues, I hope to be doing new and different types of work like working online and doing new entertaining things to pass time. Sitting at home for long periods taught me to value work and realize the importance of work activities that we used to do before quarantine no matter how difficult or dull they are. Especially that before I used to suffer from heavy workload and difficulties at work, but now I miss my job and my normal life.
Finally, I hope that the impact of this pandemic will be a salvation for the human beings, allowing him to reform his health, social and economic systems, and to arrange his relationship with nature and animals. I hope that treatments and vaccines will be developed to prevent Covid19; so we can continue our lives and enjoy nature that took a break from pollution and other damages caused by humans.
Amro Almais, 24, Law graduate, Lebanese, lives in Bar Elias