Good morning.
Last night our Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi announced a complete lockdown of the country for 21 days.
Like most of us, for you, this means a time of staying put at home and being away from friends. I know this is hard for you — I know you feel the terrible disruption this has caused you, in not being able to meet friends, in your daily routine and specifically in the canceling of the school exhibition, that you were looking forward to so much.
However, it is only at times like this — when our routines get disrupted and we face situations such as these, that it gives us an opportunity to appreciate what we have.
We are lucky in so many ways today, because, at the end of the day, we have food in our fridge, a comfortable bed, a roof above our heads, steady electricity and water, and a strong internet connection and computers.
I will ask you to pause and think about what a big blessing those things are today. Think about the thousands of children whose parents can’t afford those things.
Think about kids your age, stuck in one-bedroom apartments with adults, with no internet, no computers, no books — nothing other than their own imagination to entertain them, because the adults are too worried about bringing food to the table.
Think of them, because no one else will. Think of the tremendous loss these children will have as this entire school year goes to waste because, for many of those, the schools won’t care enough to send homework.
Covid-19 has become the biggest example of economic inequality. While everything is locked down and everyone has been asked to stay indoors — it’s only the poor who will suffer the most. The richer you are, or your parents are, the less you will suffer.
Remember this incident and in future don’t let anyone ever fool you into thinking that life is fair and money isn’t important.
I know, at this point you are probably thinking — what can I, a ten-year-old kid, do about this?
The good news is, you can do two things.
One, you can be thankful and grateful. And being thankful is not just about saying thank you to parents or guardians. It’s being *feeling thankful*. It’s about knowing deep within you, that you are lucky to have what you have and appreciating everything, even the smallest things even when things aren’t what you ideally want them to be
And the second thing. You can work harder than you ever have. Like really ass-sweating hard. Like so hard, that your bums hurt from sitting at the desk and your eyes feel like popping off and your head is about to explode.
Because by working hard, you can even the scales and eventually make a dent in the unfairness of things. It is the only way that all of us can make good the damage this virus is doing to the world and to its people.
At this point, you are probably wondering, how is my studying hard, and doing my school work or other studies linked to anything that’s going on right now.
My answer to that is, just because there’s no straight-line connection between things, doesn’t mean there’s no connection. Every piece of new information or knowledge you gain, every new thing you do, every little work, will count in some way. Trust me. You will see eventually.
So, dear girl — for the next 21 days — Be thankful and work harder than ever. Make it count.
Love,
Dad
