Undoubtedly, the year 2020 will be recorded as the worst year in the modern history of mankind. But at the same time, it witnessed giant leaps human beings made in the fields of science and technology, as it was a practical test for all the scientific theories and applications propounded, developed, and invented by them and about which they boasted in times of goodness and prosperity.

Then, they found themselves facing a great challenge all of a sudden and they have had to prove that life must continue despite the terrible global pandemic. Things invented by the human mind seem very simple, but they played an important role in protecting and saving him from the deadly coronavirus.

Just imagine what it would be like if a person did not find the elements and compounds that contribute to the manufacture of hand sanitizers, which have become, with the pandemic, more used than any cosmetics used by humans previously. Similar is the case with medical masks without which the virus would have obtained an open transit visa to every lung.

Think of the existence of these simple things before you think about the enormous technologies in laboratories and medical research centers that made scientists prepare the vaccine against coronavirus as a result of complex techniques and continuous experiments that did not stop even for a single moment since the nature of the virus was determined.

If a person has committed grave mistakes against fellow human beings by inventing the means of mass destruction and committing unforgivable follies, then on the other hand he has achieved a great advancement with scientific progress against the biological threats caused to his life.

If this had not happened, he would not have reached the extent of producing more than one vaccine for a new virus within a record time and under harsh conditions. These are the manifestations of good and bad in this weak but mighty being. And this year was a witness to both aspects — darkness and light that are inherent in it.

– The author can be reached at: habutalib@hotmail.com Twitter: @HamoodAbutalib