AS a young teenager, I recall the Reader’s Digest as being a monthly feature in my household. It was my father’s hope that by reading it, his children would improve their command of the English language.

While that desire was well founded, the first section that I would always turn to as soon as the latest issue arrived, was the humour section Laughter, the Best Medicine before perusing any other article. Thankfully my father did not know it then.

We can all agree that laughter has a way of uplifting spirits. Not that my growing up years were filled with sadness or grief that I needed some kind of a boost, but somehow it was always nice to have some jokes at the back of one’s mind when in the company of others. It’s certainly the finest form of art to fill those awkward silences that you may find yourself in.

A notable body of literature addresses how laughter decreases stress hormones and increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies, thus improving our resistance to disease.

Despite the gloom and doom of the pandemic we’re now facing, individuals who have tried to make us laugh through this storm must be commended. I will admit that I too have been very tickled by the amazing attempts of local comedians like Douglas Lim and others to elicit chuckles and giggles, and put smiles on our faces in spite of the dark clouds hovering over our heads.

However, more and more, the array of political satire is becoming painfully funny because they reveal in a masked way a realisation of how flawed our nation has been in dealing with a major crisis (Douglas and others, please don’t stop what you are doing).

From attempts that go back and forth to manage the pandemic and contradicting messaging, to leaders who seem not to be bothered with their own incompetence, decisions made based on political expediency rather than health and safety, laughter may only be a temporary medicine. With resources stretched, and infections and death on the rise, the poor and vulnerable are drowning in the deep end of poverty.

As this catastrophe plays out, politicians seemed focused on seizing power at every available opportunity with disregard for those gravely struggling in the midst of this ravaging pandemic. It makes me wonder whether these very same people, the ones who make an appearance among the poor and vulnerable once every five years, have an ounce of empathy in them.

Even food to the needy carries a political messaging – human misery seen as political opportunity, how terrible is that.

While they are whizzing from one place to another in their white or black Alphards and Vellfires and with their heads in the clouds, there are those on the ground who have to walk for miles or put-up white flags in search of food.

Yet these ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ have the audacity to accuse its languishing citizens as being lazy. Have the hearts of a section of our society become as hard as rock and cold as ice?

The pandemic has not been discriminatory, not only towards victims but also in terms of people responding on the ground. At a time when humanity is fighting for survival, our so-called leaders entrusted with a mandate by the people, are still stroking racial and even religious slurs.

Yes, we can try to laugh our worries away, but the painful reality is that the ones whom we are laughing at because of their antics seem the least bothered with their inefficiencies and imbecility.

Frederick Douglass, a prominent American activist, author and public speaker who sought to end the practice of slavery said it right: “The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”

As Malaysians, we pride ourselves in our ability to endure and care for one another, but we cannot lie still, turn inward and watch the unfolding of humanitarian negligence on the side-lines, even while in isolation.

The raging pandemic has now placed extraordinary demands on us, ordinary citizens. Demands to self-regulate and act uprightly adhering to prescribed standard operating procedure even when no one is looking, demands to not let our guard down even if we have been vaccinated and demands to extend a helping hand in whatever shape and form.

We have already begun our outreach in many little ways, but the time has come for us to step up radically and really think and act like owners. We need to empower ourselves to act responsibly guided by a clear set of values as we help each other navigate and cope in this raging crisis.

It is up to us to become that flicker of hope for each other. Granted, this is no easy feat when we are struggling ourselves and unpacking grief at so many levels.

Where else can we look for solace if not from each other? In the spirit of #KitaJagaKita, we must unite and look out for one another – regardless of race, religion and nationality.

This pandemic that does not discriminate, reminds us more than ever before, that we stand on common ground with all who are suffering.

Therefore, we need to be masters of our own destiny and shape our own future when it matters the most – especially when those who are entrusted to provide rescue are unable.

In the end, when generations after us look back at this period, my only hope is that they will remember that it was ordinary Malaysians who stood together to overcome these insurmountable challenges and who gave ourselves a future worth standing up for.

And when this day arrives, it will certainly be no laughing matter because we stood together and cared for one another to effect change. – July 20, 2021.

* Dr Clarence Devadass is a Catholic priest and director of the Catholic Research Centre in Kuala Lumpur. Moral education is an issue close to his heart. He focuses on paving resourceful ways to promote virtues for living in a multireligious society, for a significant life together.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.