There is no better catalyst for self-reflection than the solitude a pandemic offers. It applies even more so when an entire nation has to swallow the bitter pill and look at its imperfect visage in the mirror, identifying how we have collectively fallen short in flattening the infection curve months into the Covid-19 crisis.
A stricter movement control order (MCO) has been announced amid rising numbers of cases and deaths and a healthcare system stretched to capacity. And, as usual, we incessantly play the blame game at times like this: It’s the government’s fault for slowly relaxing the MCO even when cases first began hitting four figures, it’s the local authorities’ fault for lax enforcement, businesses’ fault for compromising on SOP implementation to make up for months of lost profits, people's fault for flagrant SOP violation – everyone’s fault but our own.
The truth is, as always, a mixed bag. But there is a common undercurrent in our societal fabric that explains elegantly this tendency to absolve oneself of blame – and it all boils down to this one question: How much would you trust a random member of your society to fulfil his/her civic duty, sometimes even at the expense of his/her personal benefit?
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