In our societies, Sunday is dedicated to family. All week-long, individuals are busy with work, school, and daily life routines. Sunday is the day where families get busy cooking delicious traditional meals and preparing the table. Children are busy getting ready to see their “teta” and “jeddo”, while “khalo” is taking care of the “mashewe” and sipping on his small glass of “arak”.
After the coronavirus outbreak, which the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared as a pandemic, every day became a Sunday. Nowadays, physical distancing became the new way of displaying love for “teta” and “jeddo”. Families are connecting through social media every day by creating new groups on WhatsApp to share funny videos and daily updates to get through this pandemic.
“If people are still maintaining contact with friends and family members online, they are not going to feel socially isolated,” said Stewart Shankman, professor at the Department of Psychiatry at Northwestern University in Chicago.
Parents’ definition of “being busy” has changed. Parents are now busy cooking for their children and thinking of new ways to entertain their youngsters. Mothers’ main concern became tomorrow’s lunch since parents and children are sharing every meal, not just on Sundays. It seems that our daily routine has been modified. The daily routine is now checking on our grandparents and relatives online and spending time with our family at home. Home became everyone’s safety net, and individuals are now taking time to appreciate their loved ones.
The importance of family was mostly realized when one wanted to celebrate an occasion. Nowadays, the pandemic helped people realize how important family is in overcoming any situation and how important it is always to make time for the people that we love, especially our family. Without family, it will be mentally hard to cope with isolation.
Even though we are passing through hard times, we should cherish every moment spent with our parents or children. We should try to benefit from staying at home with them because once everything goes back to normal, we will be busy with life’s daily hassles, and Sunday will once again be the day we cherish the essence of family.
“The family is the first essential cell of human society”- Pope John XXIII.
