Unabridged.

I refer to Kelvin Tong's article on "Fear factor is infectious" (ST, 1 April 2003).

I too share his view that society has been slow, if reactive at all, to unite against the SARS crisis. Indeed, this adversity has brought out the best and worse in human nature.

With each passing day, I see that we are not just fighting a viral infection -- we are also fighting our own human follies: greed, selfishness and pride.

In some places, there are already black markets for crucial medical supplies, such as masks. People are being held hostage by commercial interests. Even when help comes along, sometimes, the beneficiaries suspect an ulterior (commercial) motive. But can we blame them?

For those of us who are already doing our "civic duty" to help contain the SARS outbreak, do we truly do it for the greater good, and out of the goodness of our hearts?

I am truly saddened to see chest-thumpers flaunting and fighting to perform their "civic duties", jostling for recognition, and berating the lack of appreciation -- not that a good deed should not be appreciated.

And then there are those on their moral pedestals, proclaiming to represent the greater good, and who eagerly seize on the closest opportunity to make themselves heard in the press or to visit vengeance on those less "proactive" than they are.

Even as a call is made for everyone to find strength in unity, some of us have found ourselves fighting not only SARS, but also our own fellow men. There are those who ridicule and even ostracise others who do not share their approach to the crisis, like whether there is a need to mask up in public.

True courage and nobility is being at the front line, in the hospitals and neighbourhood clinics -- not shooting off one's mouth from the safety of one's armchair. The true heroes are the doctors and nurses, who have put their own lives (and that of their families) on the line, and are fighting hard as a team, for the lives of the SARS patients, and to contain the spread of the disease in the community.

True, each and every one of us must still do our civic duties, however small. But let us not presume, nor make ourselves out to be greater than the true warriors in this battle.