It Takes Everyone to Curb the Pandemic

For over a year, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought much fear and worry to many in the world. Taiwan was relatively untouched by the pandemic until a recent surge in confirmed cases began in May 2021. In response, medical professionals in Taiwan have been working hard around the clock to save lives; their burden has been huge. Doctors and nurses in our Tzu Chi hospitals have likewise been working their hardest to care for COVID patients. Their workloads run them ragged, but they press on, doing their best to safeguard lives. I’m deeply moved by and grateful for the dedication of these front-line workers.

The pressures on these healthcare workers and the sacrifices they are making are beyond our imagination. They even refrain from going home, concerned that they might take the virus home to their family members. Clad in layers of protective gear, they endure discomfort and inconvenience while caring for patients. Even taking a drink of water is difficult. They are like armored warriors bravely safeguarding their homeland and people against an enemy that is invisible and can’t be touched.

Not only do our doctors and nurses have to take careful precautions, but they also are going above and beyond to tend to both patients’ physical and emotional needs. Realizing how hard they are working, I’ve asked our hospital superintendents to urge our medical staff to take good care of themselves. I’ve also asked the superintendents to help me look after the medical workers and send my gratitude to them.

My gratitude extends to all healthcare professionals in Taiwan. Our foundation is here to provide help and equipment, such as PPE, to any hospital that has need for it. Volunteers and staffers from all our four missions have mobilized to help during the crisis. Employees from our medical mission nurse COVID patients and soothe their fear; volunteers and staffers from our charitable mission support front-line workers by delivering needed equipment and supplies to them; people with our educational mission work closely with those from the medical mission to develop related medicine; and staffers working for the cultural mission deliver truthful news reports and positive stories to guide the public to better protect themselves against the virus and ease their anxiety.

The end of the pandemic is nowhere in sight yet, but fear and anxiety will not do us good. This pandemic is like a wakeup call, a reminder for us to reflect on ourselves and our lifestyles. Now is the time to examine our behaviors to see if we are giving undue rein to our desires and adding to the distress of the world. For example, do we really need meat to sustain ourselves? We don’t. A plant-based diet provides us with enough nutrition. Instead of encroaching on animals’ rights to live and slaughtering them for food, we should let them live freely. Living in harmony with other creatures is how peace will reign in the world. If we live as though animals exist for our consumption, we’re sowing bad karma for ourselves. The world’s collective bad karma will eventually cause a backlash as powerful as a tsunami. If everyone could eat vegetarian, imagine how many lives we would be able to save for just one meal. The spiritual merits we would accumulate would be immeasurable.

We’ve seen during the pandemic how medical workers, police, and firefighters work to protect lives. Without a doubt, they deserve a lot of respect and appreciation from us. But it takes more than these front-liners to curb the pandemic—it takes every one of us. If we can tap into the love in our hearts, more blessings will follow. If everyone’s heart is rich in love and willing to do good, the combined good karma we create would be great enough to cancel out any disaster. Eating vegetarian is one way to show our love; reaching out to help others is another. I’ve seen our aid recipients in the Philippines—despite their limited means—donate all the money they had on them to Tzu Chi to help other needy people. When everyone is willing to contribute what they can, these small trickles of love will add up to do great good.

This pandemic is like a grand lesson for us, prompting everyone to walk the path of goodness. Life and death are separated by only a breath. Impermanence can strike at any moment. Let’s all strive to live each moment fully and meaningfully, and contribute to the well-being of the world instead of taking away from it. Please be ever more mindful.