Prof Dr Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi

The Coronavirus has done something that only a global war or a super volcanic eruption could do, which is to push the ‘pause’ button on our lives. As of now, many things are at a halt. Everyone is anxiously waiting when the Movement Control Order (MCO) will be totally lifted so that we could push the ‘resume’ button and continue our lives from where we were at. That may be possible after a month. In fact, many may still be optimistic and are itching to press the ‘resume’ button even after two months. But experts are saying that the aftermath will no longer be expected in the next few months, but in the few years instead. What now? Will our lives ‘resume’ as before albeit in a halting or in a secondhand manner? That’s the best we can do, right? Would we never consider such drastic action as pushing the total ‘reboot’ button and totally reconfigure the computer software that is analogous to our dream state life?

What? Is our ‘real’ life a ‘dream state’ life? Isn’t it real?

Well, let’s examine what a dream is. Can we control our dreams? Half the time it goes on and on and we barely understand the head or tail of it. The other times we are too busy running from the ghosts or tigers that keep popping up at every door and window we pass by. There is no control. Isn’t our life the same? Our debts, our salaries, our desire to travel leisurely, our children in schools and then universities as well as our wants and more wants which go on and on. There does not seem to be a ‘pause’ or even a ‘stop’ button, unless, of course, we fall sick. But that is just for a week or so and then on with the show. No stops, no gaps, on and on until death claims us all and then we suddenly wake up and say…that’s it? Is that all of it? I’m dead? What the hell was my 45 years of life been all about? What was my 70 years all for? Then we realise…we never once considered using the ‘pause’ button.

If we had, we might consider then using the ‘reboot’ button by re-examining our lives. But all of us are too busy to read Eckhart Tolle or Deepak Chopra. Our lives are one empty petrol tank after another. After one tank dries, we fill it up. Then we fill it up again. Where are we going? Who cares? As long as the tank is not empty. Who says so? Well, my friends, my boss, my PM, and my conscience who is busy gobbling a Baskin-Robbins World Class Chocolate Ice Cream say so. Want some cream with that?

We never considered the ‘pause’ button. When we run out of batteries, we just plug in a new power source or just get new batteries. Senang saja. Apa kisah?

Suddenly a Mr C comes in rudely and places his fat finger on the ‘pause’ button and grins at us a la It the Clown. We cannot yell at him because he has big teeth and his fingers are talons of steel. We can only scurry to a corner on lockdown and wait until the clown moves elsewhere, and then only we can look for the ‘resume’ button. But here’s the problem, the clown will NEVER truly leaves us. WE have to live with IT! How are we going to live with IT?

There is an obvious answer, but we never thought about it, never want to think about it, and do not even dare to contemplate about it. Hit the damned ‘REBOOT’ button! Reconfigure the operating system. Reconfigure the game of life. Reconfigure and reformat your very existence. My God! You are humans who have some kind of education and some way of thinking in a different manner, aren’t you? Or were those years in sekolah kebangsaan or universiti awam doing Sijil Sarjana and Doktor Falsafah empty exercises of activities, grades and papers? No thinking ability? No courageous and far-flung visionary ideas? Tak boleh fikir kah?

Our children will be spending the next one year at home. That is the clue. Fathers or mothers will have to make the outrageous decision to…err...stay at home. What happens to the RM500,000 dream of a condo and the sleek BMWs? Do those things outweigh the safety of our children? Who dares to think of an alternate future?

Then, for our children, what education do they really need? Are we going to take the whole damned syllabus and ram it down the children’s heads via the internet? Seriously? Online learning is the answer!! Is that so? The biggest ministry can say only that? The over 3,000 professors in this country also don’t have any ideas other than using the internet and online learning lah!

I would have taken this opportunity to jettison 70% of what we teach our students nowadays and reconfigure a better syllabus that would suit home schooling and packaged online education that is not standardised. If I were a young father or mother I would discuss with my spouse on the possibility of taking a whole year of leave or resign and save all the fees for care centres fees as well as my petrol and see if I can better educate my own children at home. If I were a caring PM, instead of just helping Mak Kiah, I would pay all parents who stay at home RM1,000 a month to teach their children at home to ensure our future leaders of this country receive education in a different manner than today.

It has taken a virus to push the ‘pause’ button on our dream state lives of endless fictitious ends, wants and false needs. There are a thousand and one ways we can reboot and reset our lives. Our companies, our shops, our universities, our NGOs, and our government administration are waiting for the ‘reboot’ button. Should we not do it for our own selves and our own sake? If not, can’t we do it for our children’s very lives of safety and health? At the very least, can the nation ‘reboot’ for that…please.