Can Gratitude Be Enforced?

India Salutes To The Corona Warriors

 On April 20, the burial of Dr. Samuel Hercules in Chennai was disrupted by violent protesters. On April 8, two resident doctors of Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital were allegedly assaulted by a neighbor who accused them of spreading coronavirus infection and a week before that, two doctors and their team were pelted with stones during the screening of Covid-19 patients in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.

These incidents are a mirror of reality showing the country’s attitude to the warriors of this unprecedented battle. The plight of the health care workers doesn’t end here. The bigger challenges are the substandard protective gears, poor meals, long grueling shifts and above all their own vulnerability to the novel pathogen. Facing all the challenges the medical team is leaving no stone unturned to reach out and help the infected people but instead of acknowledging their tireless work and selfless service we welcome them with abuse and stones. 

In the wake of persistent attacks on health care workers, the Centre has approved an ordinance to make such attacks a cognizable and non-bailable offence.  But it will not suffice to give assurance to those who are bravely battling Covid-19 on the frontline. The amendment in the Epidemic Disease Act compels us to think something very deeply and raises a question. Why do we always need a law to be enforced to become a better Indian? Why do we need a law to allow our daughters to open their eyes in this world? Why do we need a law to keep our surroundings clean? Do we really dream of a country where we require laws for everything? For reverence?  For thankfulness?

We live in a nation where the atmosphere of intolerance, mob violence, avarice, drudgery and complacency is grinding down the country’s splendid achievements. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown but we have forgotten the gracious sense of integrity which can enrich and strengthen us as a civilized society and each of us believes that integrity and gratitude cannot be enforced; these are within our hearts and should reflect as a virtue of our own. Just as gratitude is the queen of the virtues, ingratitude is the king of the vices.

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Let’s never forget that the beauty of the Indian people lies in their spirit of tolerance, sharing and respecting each human soul and value even the smallest effort made to ameliorate the country’s present situation. We have to follow our instincts to reinforce the values that can build a greater nation with everyone practicing self-discipline and self-reliance. As Emerson has asserted, “…if the single man plant himself indomitably on his instincts, and there abide, the huge world will come round to him.”

Doctors have always been considered as God and during the fight against coronavirus pandemic it seems as God himself, clad in white, has appeared on earth to provide succour to people in distress. Today, God is not confined to temples and mosques but could be felt in those serving humanity. The frontline Health Workers must be treated in a dignified way in view of their selfless service to society and nation. And to beat the drum we shouldn’t require any law, the respect and gratitude is within all of us. That must come from within each and every Indian.