Coronavirus and the story of Noah’s Ark

If you do not trust public health experts, the World Health Organization, or the government, you are not alone.

If you think that Covid-19 is a hoax, which has been created by some secret group with sinister motives, you are also not alone. If you can’t help but feel that people who consistently wear masks are cowards, you are also in terrific company.

Now, you may think that what you are doing is unique or new, but you are merely carrying on one of the oldest human traditions – the tendency to ignore warnings until it is too late.

If you read any religious text, watch a horror movie, or study history, you will quickly notice that this occurs with every generation. It is merely part of being human. Even the Son of Man recognised that most people will not be prepared for his return despite repeated warnings and simple instructions on how to be ready. In Mathew 24:37-39, he tells whoever cares to listen that:

“For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. As in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.”
When you consider the behaviour of his followers, both present and past, it is safe to say he was right. But that’s beside the point. What is fascinating is the scope and consistency of this human trait across time and space.

In the aftermath of every human tragedy, we always look for who to blame. We wonder how the crisis could have been prevented and why it wasn’t.
In the end, we seem to get shocked at how blind or stupid the responsible parties were because the signs seem too obvious.

But you see, blindness and stupidity are much easier to diagnose in other people than ourselves. Yet if our behaviour concerning Covid-19 is anything to go by, we should be in a better position to understand why our ancestors went about their business as usual as some ‘lunatic’ called Noah was building an ark.

For months now, the government has warned us about an imminent disaster called Covid-19. It has equipped us with the information we need to secure our lives.
At some point, it even restricted our movements using the threat of force and imprisonment. Later, it gave us or attempted to provide us with a re-usable mask at no extra cost.

But like the humans who came before us, we have dismissed the warning and the evidence. We act like there is no imminent danger, and we won’t come to our senses until the disease comes to take our loved ones or us away. I mean, even presidential aspirants who sang warning songs have since moved on.

So, let us continue behaving as if Uganda has enough medics and medical supplies, such that doctors won’t have to choose who to save and who not to save. In other words, let us ignore our responsibility towards ourselves and place all our hopes in Uganda’s health care system.

If it fails us, we shall have one more thing to blame the government for, and this time around, we shall be reporting them to God in person, not to a compromised Judiciary.

Mr Kibudde is a socio-political thinker
[email protected] Twitter: @kkaboggoza