Mental Health Day 2020: Hanging On By A Thread
The Annual Commemoration of Mental Health Day
The COVID-19 virus is a storm that doused our country with struggle; Thousands of Filipinos are gasping for air, barely staying afloat. Thousands have already drowned. Many try to help as many people as they can, but can only do so much without sinking themselves. Meanwhile, the politicians on higher ground who watch idly and bicker amongst themselves have the audacity to say that we will get through the storm together.
The World Health Organization recognized the need for people to have access to quality mental health services in dealing with the anxieties, trials, and losses during the pandemic. It was because of this that the theme for this year’s World Mental Health Day is “mental health for all”. However, with the physical threat of COVID-19 posing great emotional and mental suffering for Filipinos, and with governments’ fervent tactlessness in responding to the virus, the status quo reveals a bleak, painful reality of Filipino society as they struggle to get by during this time.
It began as a silent yet persistent tightness in people’s chests as they adhered to quarantine guidelines, isolating themselves and their families to protect the community. Unfortunately, the time spent alone allowed depression and anxiety within many to fester. This tightness became stronger when schools rushed into online learning. They forced additional expenses and demanding workloads on students as their families struggled to get them gadgets and stable connection. It manifested into shortness of breath when thousands of workers whose families depended on their salaries to survive lost their source of income. When the number of cases and deaths rose by hundreds, thousands, it intensified itself into a death grip, with our people gasping for breath. Medical frontliners exhausted themselves thanklessly risking their own lives for their patients’. But when the virus selfishly took the lives of dear friends and relatives, the feeling simply faded into a numbness. The dark and heavy storm faded into gray as family members gave eulogies over Zoom calls and cried in front of funeral livestreams. They could not even hold each other as they mourned.
But when this incomparable pain reached the ears of politicians, they said they admired the Filipinos for their resilience. For them, it is business as usual as they played the game of politics. They boast about the strength of the Filipinos as they grab hold of power in a time when their people are at their most vulnerable.
This year’s World Mental Health Day reveals that our country was sick with something long before the virus came about. Even before the pandemic, our culture still had a long way to go in just acknowledging mental health issues as valid. Even longer before the pandemic were the lives of the marginalized not valued by the administration.
However, what has remained constant throughout history, and withstood all trials, be they in the form of natural disasters, virus outbreaks, or corrupt administrations, is the Filipinos’ spirit for helping their neighbor. The struggle of one is the struggle of the community, and we do not leave each other behind even when those in power failed us.
Thus, let this year’s commemoration of World Mental Health Day be a reminder that we are not alone, and we cannot leave anyone behind. In the storm that is the virus, let us listen to the calls of those who are drowning, and learn how to call for help ourselves. It is through this that we will weather the storm together, and work towards not just survival, but building a better culture that promotes and delivers the well-being of all.
