I'm not a fan of Valentine's Day but this is a good occasion for all of us to ponder on the concept of love one more time. I'm not talking about romantic love but, rather, love for our fellow humans that I think the world needs to have more of.
It's ironic that while the festival is widely celebrated in the Western world, it fails to cultivate this kind of love in many of those countries.
This was evident during the coronavirus outbreak where vaccine inequality between rich and poor nations became a major issue that many said hindered global efforts to put an end to the pandemic.
Since the manufacturing of Covid-19 vaccines began, many rich countries in the West raced to strike deals with pharmaceutical companies to secure doses. It's not a secret that they have been hoarding and stockpiling vaccines while poor countries were denied access.
When the Delta variant was detected in India in late 2020, scientists and global health experts started to call on those wealthy nations to share vaccines around the world. The "nobody is safe until everyone is safe" has become their Covid-19 mantra ever since.
They pointed out that mass vaccination was the best possible way to end the pandemic as it could reduce the risk of new mutant variants emerging that can result in making the virus more transmissible and evade our immune response.
However, their warnings fell on deaf ears and, worst, we often heard stunning stories about the destruction of surplus and expired doses of vaccines in rich countries despite the sad fact that the poorest nations had difficulties acquiring even a first dose for their people.
The issue of vaccine inequality was put into the spotlight again after the highly transmissible Omicron variant was detected in South Africa late last year. The emergence prompted many experts to call for a rollout for poor nations to prevent a new wave of variants.
As of last month, the statistics showed that only about 5% of people in poor countries have been fully vaccinated, compared to 72% in rich countries.
I don't know how long it will take to get everyone in every part of the world equally protected from the virus. I also wonder if the rich countries have felt anything about those figures.
For me, this is an ugly truth that shows that perhaps their selfish acts are more dangerous to the world than the virus itself.
Selfishness is a natural quality of all humans as we are inclined to care more about ourselves and put our benefits before anything else. It won't be much of an issue as long as it doesn't pose a threat to other people, especially the vulnerable.
Recently, in Thailand, there is a similar case that shows how one selfish act could cause a great loss to the country.
In my eyes, the tragic death of the 34-year-old ophthalmologist Dr Waraluck Supawatjariyakul, or Mor Kratai, who was struck by a Ducati superbike driven by off-duty Pol L/C Norawich Buadok last month, doesn't only reflect the country's complete failure to enforce traffic laws, but also a fine line between recklessness and selfishness that needs to be addressed.
It's very sad that the country has lost a doctor who could have been able to help many people if she wasn't killed by such an unlikely accident.
The 21-year-old police officer is now facing nine charges and five of them are, to be more precise, simply the product of his self-centeredness. They include reckless driving causing death, failing to keep his motorcycle in the left lane, failing to give way to someone using a pedestrian crossing, exceeding the speed limit, and unsafe driving.
I believe he might have never thought before that the fun and pleasure that he got from speeding a powerful bike on a busy street would one day kill a person and end his own future.
Still, I couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if he was just a caring person who always put the safety of everyone on the road before his personal satisfaction when he was at the wheel.
We can't deny that most road accidents are associated with selfish acts of the drivers, in one way or the other. Mor Kratai isn't the first victim killed on a zebra crossing and won't be the last unless all drivers stop putting themselves first.
If there's anything I would want to see people do this Valentine's Day, I wish it is that they will learn to be less selfish and think more about others in every aspect of life.
For me, this is a good start for love that we can have for all.
Patcharawalai Sanyanusin is a writer for the Life section of the Bangkok Post.
