thenihilaeternum

[thenihilaeternum]

I could have been something else, you know, more than just this hollow echo of what might have been— I see it now, too late to reshape the shadow I’ve become.

The years stretch like an empty highway, the miles wasted on silence, chasing things that never mattered, while you slipped further, always out of reach.

I was too proud to admit it then, that you were the thing I needed, the flame I should have sheltered, instead of letting it flicker out while I groped through the dark with all the wrong choices.

Your laughter used to dance on the edges of my days, your smile like a promise, a future I could have built if I’d known how to stay.

But I didn’t. I let you go, like the dreams I set aside, one by one, until all that’s left is this quiet room and the sound of regret whispering in the corners.

Maybe you found your path, or maybe you’re lost too, but I’ll never know— and that’s what cuts deepest. The "what ifs" are ghosts that visit in the night, and I have no words to send them away

[thenihilaeternum]

alien be like 'same'

[thenihilaeternum]

Why the next Pandemic terrifies me

This is something I've been pondering about for a few months now, and no matter what I read to try to rationalise my fears, instead, they are exacerbated. Like you all, I watched with caution here in the UK during late February or early March as COVID-19 swept through Italy and other neighbouring countries. The scenes of overcrowded hospitals and grieving families plastered the news day in and day out. Ironically, around the same time, 'The Tab' released an article titled something like, 'Why this thing in China won't be a big issue' - I'd love to know if the author continued majoring in journalism. Fast forward to the 23rd of March, 332,924 people were confirmed worldwide to have the virus, and our then shitty prime minister declared a complete lockdown to come into effect at 1pm on the 26th of March. As the pandemic progressed, the virus dipped and spiked up as advisors tried to advise in order to break the spread. By the end of 2020, it was clear that COVID-19 was not bubonic plague or Spanish flu. Luckily, COVID-19 had a low morbidity rate and tended to kill the old, unhealthy and those with autoimmune disorders. It was rare, but still tragic, to see a young fit adult die with it. I raise this point for an important reason: the mortality rate was low, with a(1.4%) estimate, but with even such a low rate, the World Health Organisation reports that almost 7 million people have died from it. This has left us in a precarious position. Why? For one, distrust of the government is at an all-time high. The mishandling of the pandemic is fresh in everyone's minds, and the general public won't be quick to forget. Secondly, If a harsher disease somehow manifested in the Western world, many would be sceptical about lockdowns. And the last deserves its own article. The misinformation about vaccines is wild. We have communities where 'anti-vaxxers' gather and spread their shite among the next gullible stay-at-mum. On the upside, despite COVID-19 still claiming lives around the world, especially among poorer countries where the medical treatment is just not robust enough, it appears that COVID-19 is not the threat I feared it to be, and after all, what are the chances of two pandemics in one life-time?.. Right?