When you walk through a storm
Hold your head up high
And don't be afraid of the dark
At the end of a storm
There's a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark
Walk on through the wind
Walk on through the rain
Though your dreams be tossed and blown
Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone
You'll never walk alone
Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone
You'll never walk alone
Songwriters: Oscar Hammerstein II / Richard Rodgers
Gerry and the Pacemakers sang it to us, Liverpool and their supporters made it into an anthem. Today, maybe the words resonate louder and wider than they have ever done. Corona virus, its impact and the way in which it is testing the very humanity of humans brings many of us to deliberate on those words and maybe conclude, it’s time to wake up.
People may try to walk it alone, but today we know that if we are true to ourselves and to each other, alone is not necessarily all that it’s cracked up to be. Today we experience, if we are lucky, the warmth of our family, that of our friends and even the many strangers who help us.
Fear and panic are a bigger danger to all of us than any virus or disease. As each day passes countries takes ever more stringent action to slow down the virus and reduce its damaging impact on our elderly, on the most vulnerable, on jobs, on the economy and on every aspect of our lives that most of us took for granted. We applaud our emergency services rightly; we applaud the NHS and health professionals also but let us not forget our unsung heroes. For example, those working in our supermarkets and shops. They face the gauntlet of maddening crowds each and every day. Long hours of service that come with verbal and sometimes even physical abuses. But they carry on, and because they carry on, we have food on our table.
Today we are asked to create a personal space of 2m to protect ourselves and others. So let’s do a 360 and see who is around us. Time to reflect and value your family. Let me start, to openly declare that I am the luckiest person in the world for having one of the best families in the world. With all my faults and tantrums (too many to list!), they are always there for me. Today I applaud them and say, thank you my family. Without you, this Kapil would have been a nothing.
To all our friends, those who have been with us from when we were young to those who we have collected over the years – thank you for being in our life. We are enriched in all aspects of our lives because of you, thank you and forgive our errors and omissions.
And to our enemies who we collect over the years but when we think about it, we just cannot remember why we drifted apart. So, to all my enemies, stay safe, stay healthy and maybe one day we can have the courage to take that step and look at the future with a smile, rather than the past with bitterness.
This is not the end of the world folks. Let’s make it the beginning of a new one. As it is said, let us now become the change we wish to see around us and in the world. Hindus got it right when they say, ‘Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu’. You’ll never walk alone, just let others walk with you.
