These days are uncertain, frightening, confusing. It is easy to give in to our worst fears— to practically bathe ourselves in alcohol, to look at those who cough or sneeze with suspicion, and to stay within our home and work routines, limiting our interaction to the people we need to see.
Amid the chaos, medical professionals, frontliners and volunteers stand out as modern-day heroes.
They continue to don their uniforms and perform their sworn duty to attend to the medical concerns of anybody who walks into their facility. They care for those who need medical help, whatever the chief complaint. They themselves get tired and worried about their own exposure. No doubt they ask themselves if they may be exposing their own families to danger. Nonetheless, they continue to do their job.
In fact, some of them have themselves contracted the disease from their contact with their patients. Some remain on self-quarantine or under investigation. This is a likely continuing scenario as the virus spreads and until the threat abates.
If there is anybody the President should have thanked, and profusely, during his address to the nation on Thursday night, it should have been the doctors, nurses, and other health workers who soldier on despite the risks. The rest of us face potential danger brought by this unseen menace; they, even more so by the very nature of their jobs. Some trolls on social media say they deserve no recognition since it is their job and they are getting paid for it, anyway. We disagree, and vehemently. So we pick up where Mr. Duterte chose to be silent and say to them: Thank you!
Amid today’s anxieties, we remain hopeful that one day the pandemic would seize spooking not just citizens of the world but economies as well. And since this crisis is unprecedented in our lifetime, we will come out of it with a renewed respect and appreciation for those who choose to show up for their jobs at all costs.