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I Am Just Slow and Dim-Witted
- Fr. Deo Camon, LPT, PhD
- Dec 3, 2020
- 3 min read
I am intellectually slow. I never got any honors during my Elementary and High School. Maybe this is also the reason why nobody endorsed me to study further. When I took my doctorate, it was just on my own volition; nobody encouraged or told me to study in Graduate School.
In my dim-witted stupidity (pardon the language), I am slow in adapting to the changes around me. Thus, when COVID-19 afflicted the Philippines and everybody was told to stay home and not to go out unnecessarily, I followed it.
Due to caution, for the past seven months, I missed staying at home with my sisters, never visited the mall or went to my favorite Ramen restaurant, never went to my usual hang-out, which is the cinema, never went to the department store to buy new clothes, and never went to places I would love to visit.
You may ask why not visit these places or do the things I am used to since no one is stopping me. I think the answer is because I just slow and dim-witted.
After all, I belonged to the COVID-19 high-risk group of the population. I am asthmatic, hypertensive, have high triglycerides, and have high cholesterol; plus, I am watching my sugar because my mother was diabetic. Sometimes I am also hyperactive and over-acting (laugh out loud).
Because of all these “highs” in my health, I am cautious about my health due to prudence. Additionally, I am particularly phobic of hospitals despite my grandfather being a renowned endocrinologist during his time who trained in Europe.
Furthermore, with the financial difficulties everybody is undergoing, I believe it would be unfair and unjust to place myself in harm’s way.
You might call me someone who lacks faith.
Is it not that Jesus, who said that whoever protects his life will lose it? (Of course, Jesus talked about this in the context of martyria, not of foolish recklessness). But I would counter that Jesus also said, “Do not tempt the Lord your God!” This is the reason why we do not jump out of the window every time we want to do it! No angels will surely come to save us (Laugh out loud).
This brings me to the point that I find obnoxious when people make others by force or persuasion to abandon caution.
In the US, wearing a mask is a big issue because Americans take it as a violation of their First Amendment rights.
But here in the Philippines, it is the opposite. Those who are reckless and are acting as if COVID-19 does not exist are praised as “brave and full faith.”
I am slow and dim-witted that I cannot make adjustments in my thinking compared to those who are enlightened and are no longer observing social distancing, acting as if COVID-19 is no longer existing.
I am so dumb that I cannot understand how social distancing has now become something that you do for “photo-op.” I cannot comprehend why medical experts and the government make a fuss over having all those acronyms when nobody seems to mind it. Whether it is ECQ, GCQ, MECQ, or MGCQ, people are acting as if they are just a play of words.
Maybe I am just slow and dim-witted while the rest have already progressed. Since they do not observe the “acronyms,” hopefully they would not belong to statistics. Particularly the statistics that will never change.
When people make fun of me due to my “overly cautious” behavior, I have no one to blame except myself since I am too slow and dim-witted, so you know what I mean.
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