50 years of learning nothing: Our new abnormal (XVI)

While my sister was compiling research material for her Assumption velada (and all Assumption alumni, and their husbands, will attest to just how seriously they take these veladas), she stumbled upon an archival photograph of the very first Earth Day, as celebrated in April of 1970 in Manhattan, New York City.

- PHILIP CU UNJIENG

A brainchild of then-Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, a staunch environmentalist, it was meant to draw attention to the growing issue of pollution and the environment. That was 50 years ago; and when my sister shared it on her FB page, it was too startling an image to let pass without comment.

I had the photo published here for two distinct reasons. One, that it’s downright uncanny how prophetic the 1970 world depicted us. If I hadn’t been told that it dates back to April 1970; other than the hippie-poncho look of the woman behind the children, it could very well have been a snapshot of what’s going on in the COVID world of today. In almost any major city across the globe, you’d have kids wearing masks for safety, not practicing social distancing very well; and all these other pedestrians who refuse to wear masks and/or shields — defying the science, and the medical facts and data.