There is no shame in being ill

With the rise of the Corona Virus, social exclusion has been witnessed more and more.

Unfortunately, social exclusion is not only observed among “corona-recovered” patients but also anyone who gets sick is excluded; The more serious the sickness is, the deeper the exclusion.

A corona patient has to carry a “corona tag”, probably feels the shame and worry that he is both a carrier and a deadly risk; He has to survive his sickness and his surrounding verbal and relational bullying. 

On another hand, a cancer patient for example has to fight for life, tolerate the pain of his chemo sessions, accept his look and body changes, and in parallel, he has to face social exclusion. I recall one of my personal experiences, I can still remember my cousin lying down on his bed for months before he passed away, his circle of so called-friends went from 20+ to a maximum of 2 who stayed in touch.

Being healthy people, we need to always to:

• Be kind, show empathy and inclusion to whoever is sick, understand his/her fear and have regular check-ins to show support; This is the time, he/she needs us the most.
• Be mindful of our words, speaking regularly about the illness of someone in public and tagging someone as “sick” can be considered a form of bullying and will impact negatively the patient’s mental health. 

Sickness is not a shame... Body immunity is not guaranteed ...

For my fellow friends who are currently sick or have been infected in any way, please:

• Share you story and tell your experience with pride as you are a worrier and you have learned “courage”, “tolerance”, “patience” and “survival”.

  “Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.”

Khalil Gibran

• Build a support system that consists of your family and positive people only; Initiate inclusion by setting regular meetups (virtual or physical), don’t surrender to loneliness.
• Get active, have a learning mindset & explore new activities.
• Practice gratitude as it is the best medicine that heals your mind, body and spirit.

All of us have rights and obligations, while we are entitled for human rights and we fight for them, we should respect other’s rights as well and our obligations are to fight against bias, abuse & bullying, and to treat everyone equally; So let’s be inclusive, kind, thoughtful, understand others feelings and support each other.