@sc 2 September 2021

Lesson I learned about Obedience

In this day and age, it is undoubted and no longer surprising that a lot of people no longer values obedience or even practice and apply it in their daily lives since self interest and independence is what most people want. We can observe children and young adult being disobedient of their parents, as an adult who still live with my parents, there are times that I disobeyed them too because I don't agree with their idea, with what they want to happen, or the decision they made for me. However, is obedience really something that we can just regard as a bygone era? Or on the other hand, is it a significant lesson that everyone should learn? It is embarrassing to say and even write about this, but today, I realized the value of being obedient. I am a filial daughter, but like what is already mentioned, there are times that I also fail to be obedient and does something which I think is better to do. But being obedient is not only limited in the family system. Being obedient can also benefit the entire human society. Just take this example: when the Covid-19 pandemic shocked the world, the government gave us health regulations that we need to obediently follow. Those who strictly followed the health and safety protocols are still alive and kicking until now, but those who disobeyed, those who didn't wear the protective equipments such as face mask and face shield when they're on public places, those who partied and disregarded the protocols, those people might have put themselves by either catching the virus or infecting their loved ones. See how important it is to obey. But I myself have disregarded that. I was used to getting out of the house on a regular basis because of my nature of work. I've been to the city a lot of times and been in contact with a lot of strangers. I always go to school because I work as a teacher. Given this circumstances, I am always at risk of being infected with Covid-19. Thankfully, I always follow the health and safety protocols when I'm outside so it is fortunate that I am not being infected by the deadly virus. But last sunday, I did a terrible mistake which I regret and I am truly reflecting now. Some of you might probably have read my **Not-so-busy Sunday** article, forgive me of I haven't replied to your comment. Anyway, like I said in the article, I went to my friend's place to somehow give her encouragement because of the depressing things that happened to her. We had fun, and the goal of the visit was given justice, my friend somehow forgot her problems even for just a short period of time and she's very thankful for our visit. https://read.cash/@sc/not-so-busy-sunday-c920b131 To be honest, that day I was hesitant to go. I had a lot of errands to take care of, but my cousin was very persistent and urged us to come. I had a lot of second thoughts. I really want to comfort and encourage our friend but I'm planning to do it via direct message on messenger because I want all of us to be safe too. However, I gave up after my cousin persistently bugged me to come. Same with the other friend, her husband does not want to go, but since my cousin said that it's a *once in a blue moon* meet up, her husband finally gave his go signal. We went there with a good reason and we never imagined that it can have a negative impact to the people around us, because the day after that, my friend's mom was sent to the hospital and wednesday, the result of her swab test came out and it says positive of Covid-19. My friend and her husband were immediately sent to the quarantine facility since they are in directly contact with the sick lady. Then she messaged me saying that if they test positive, I'll be listed for contact tracing because we met on sunday. I was taken aback and didn't know what to do for a moment. When I got home, I can't tell my family that I will be included in the contact tracing if ever, because I know they will surely freak out and they will most probably blame me for going anywhere without valid reason. I prayed so hard for my friend's mom to get better and for my friends to test negative. Because if ever they were positive, it will not only affect me, but the people around. My parents won't be able to go to work, I will be fired from my job, I can no longer volunteer and might lose the opportunity to earn a volunteering experience. And I will be forced to quarantine myself for 14 days! It the same for my cousin. She's freaking out because at this time, they have a lot of patients who come to their office and she can't afford to be absent for a long period of time. Her boss will surely get mad at her. She kept telling me that we should not be included in the contact tracing because it will affect our jobs and that since we are always outside, we really have the risk of being infected by Covid, and once you are sent to the hospital, you are most likely to be positive of the virus. It sounds like she's blaming our friend for what happened. Instead of showing empathy to the worrying family members, all she think of is herself and she even sent messages on the group chat that doesn't sound right. So I told her that we should just talk when the result is already out. Though she's just worrying about what will happen next, I can't help to be disappointed at my cousin because of her reaction. That's when I realized that if only, we obeyed. If only we followed the protocols that we should only go outside because of work and because of something urgent. If only... I can't help but blame my cousin for persistently asking me to come, cause of we didn't meet, we won't be in direct contact with our friend who's mom is infected. But I know, it's partly my fault too. This evening, my friend told me that they're negative and I was so happy to hear the news. But in this experience, I realized that obedience should come first because disobeying can have unfavorable results. Sometimes, it can even lead to chaos. And these days, no matter how much we miss our loved ones and no matter how much we want to see them, a better way of showing love is not to see them. We show we love them because we prioritized their safety and our safety as well. I learned a lesson the hard way. `I thought I published this before going to sleep last night, but to my surprise I didn't.` `Lead image from dreamstime.com`