Life During COVID-19

Its March 2020 and we have had few peculiar weeks all over the world. Almost everyone is on a lock down, either mandatory or voluntarily; and all of us have been recommended to implement "social distancing".

By nature, human beings are social creatures. Not only we like living in communities and cities, but we benefit from each other's presence, skills and services. Every year more and more people move to cities and urban areas, in order to experience living in large communities and to pursue new careers and opportunities.

Cities are exciting because they are made by various people. People make cities fun, more cosmopolitan and more diverse.

Unfortunately, due to the current global pandemic, our cities are not safe at the moment. For now, we should stop going to theaters, cinemas, stadiums, bars and restaurants. Basically, we should not enjoy the recreational services and activities that our cities provide for the time being.

Here in Copenhagen, it is very strange to walk in the city center on a sunny day and see no more than 10 people walking and keeping their distance.

Hopefully, these measures will help us to overcome this virus and soon we will be able to get back to normal life and enjoy our urban lives. I am sure this time we will appreciate these activities that we took for granted, more than ever.

This global pandemic has shown the humanity that we are all connected. That we cannot isolate one city, one country and one region. We are interconnected and we must fight this together with the same strategy. My home country of Iran is one of the first countries that was hit by COVID-19, and it has been one of the worst countries affected by it. The government's mismanagement, incompetence and inability to act swiftly, mixed with the unjust US sanctions have made the situation much worse for the ordinary Iranians and the medical staff on the front-line. We are in this fight all together and in order to prevail, we must all help each other.

In 1258 Persian poet Saadi wrote:

"Human beings are members of one another,

since in their creation they are of one essence.

When the conditions of the time brings a member (limb) to pain,

the other members (limbs) will suffer from discomfort.

You, who are indifferent to the misery of others,

it is not fitting that they should call you a human being."