My word: You can be a hero too

I have been working from home for the past two weeks. This week, after experiencing technical difficulties that nearly drove me to the edge, I decided to go to the office.

I discovered that what had taken me hours to do at home, I could do at the office in a matter of minutes. I started to feel a little tempted to make the commute to the office every day. Why was I giving myself ulcers at home when I could just go to the office for a few hours a day and get the same job done?

It didn’t help that on my way to work, I felt shocked by the number of people out and about, going about their business as if there was no global pandemic threatening our existence. To me, the streets looked just as busy as they were a few days before Christmas.

For a few minutes (OK, I lie, hours), I felt discouraged, wondering why I had even bothered staying at home. ‘Everyone’ else was out and about. Why did I have to be the one ‘suffering’ at home?

But as the day wore on, it began to sink in that it doesn’t matter what ‘everyone’ else is doing. What matters is what I am doing and why I am doing it.

Those whose names have gone down in history would never have left a mark if they had stopped what they were doing because they were the only ones doing it. From Albert Einstein to Wangari Maathai, there is not a single hero who sought popular opinion or an easy way out as the path for achieving their dreams.

So what made them heroes? It’s simple. They knew what they needed to do and why they needed to do it and they simply did it.

You can be a hero too. It doesn’t matter how small your contribution may seem towards the fight against the virus, don’t give up. Keep doing it.

Are you able to work from home? Are you a prayer warrior? Can you spread messages of hope or of washing hands? Are you a farmer who can put help put food on people’s tables? Do you have something to give to the cause? Is your job to provide essential services? Are you out there working on the frontline?

Don’t forget it. Every. Single. Thing. Counts.

Christine Koech, Editor, Eve