Quote:
Originally Posted by Sawyer This thinking is common globally; it is also wrong, being based on not applying one's mind because of intellectual laziness and wanting to stay in denial to carry on business as usual.
The flatten the curve picture is very illuminating for those that study it and THINK.....This may come across as harsh, but the one consolation you have is that many think like this, even in the educated citizenry. |
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sawyer ..many people even here are like ostriches with their heads in the sand, seeing how to make the most of their existing way of life in what is seen as a brief interruption...It all has the makings of a perfect storm... |
Sir no disrespect. But, during times like this, maybe it would be a good idea to dial back the condescension a little bit.
These are tough times, yes. But, one does not need to be a certified genius to see all ramifications of this calamity. In fact, I am willing to bet that most of us can adequately play out all scenarios in our heads. It's just that each of us chooses to empathize with different dimensions of the same problem. Our choices are a direct result of each of our perspectives, courtesy our individual life journeys..
Let me try to explain by quoting from my own life.
Me and my wife care for three senior citizens in our house. We also have young children. We are therefore very much invested in the immediate human element in this situation. We need this virus contained; and we need our elders and our children to be healthy. No question about that at all.
But, there is another side to this story. No, not somewhere out there in someone else's house; but, in this very house where the aforementioned seniors and children live.
For better or for worse, both me and my wife found ourselves at the business end of 3 big recessions very early in our professional journeys. In fact, we have never really known a time when the going has been smooth for us economically speaking. Right until our mid 30s, we had no money at all to speak of. Personally, I was even embarrassed of meeting old friends because I had nothing to show for more than a decade of effort. As shameful as it sounds, this is the hard truth.
Despite having invested in quality education and having worked hard at various orgs, sometimes even to the point of receiving commendations for our work, we still bore the brunt of every downturn. While our classmates and contemporaries were busy building careers and wealth portfolios, both of us were busy doing damage control. Each time, we would will ourselves out of setbacks, find our bearings and then work hard believing that we were out of the woods. And each time any pile of savings that we built (and re-built) would quickly get expended in putting out the next fire in our professional lives set off by some other irresponsible moron in the economy (think sub-prime crisis or the 911 attacks). Today, we are simply tired of being at the receiving end of economic downturns that are caused by things out of our control.
And you know what else?! Despite all our personal setbacks,
we feel that we are 1000 times more fortunate than the masses of people who live hand-to-mouth everyday. To imagine their lives makes us feel thankful for a merciful Lord in ours.
So, coming back to the present day, yes, we understand the point of view of our government and of various administrations around the world;
and we will fully comply with all the laws of the land. But, to expect us to vocally cheer-lead a societal shutdown?! That's a bit much I think. That we can't find it in our hearts to do.
To be clear, I would certainly not wish harm on anyone. But, if the choice is between a.) protecting the health of some whose immunity may be compromised (predominantly seniors who have lived a long life) and b.) protecting the livelihood of the vast majority of the working population so that they can feed their families and secure their families' future, well my choice is quite clear.
Please forgive me for sounding harsh. But, I suppose I am simply too hardened after witnessing years of professional hardship. Even in the worst of my temperaments, I would not wish economic hardship on my worst enemy. That's just where I come out.
And yes, I fully comprehend that this virus could mutate and become something that affects not just old people; but everyone notwithstanding the strength of their immunity. It's just that in sheer numbers, I think that the number of people who would end up being affected by the economic fallout of our solutions would be orders of magnitude more than those whose health would be immediately impacted by the virus.
To be clear, there are no good options here. Only bad ones. It is a question of which bad option you would prefer based on where you have been and what you have seen in your life. That's all there is to it.
So, let us please get off the soap box and not lecture others about their "inability to think" and what not. Who knows what people are going through? Maybe everyone can think. Maybe everyone has, in fact, already thought about the N ways that this could play out. Maybe some people are more worried about the economics than about their health or about others' health. Surely, that should not be hard for us to comprehend, correct? Who are we to label others as stupid?
Thanks
P.S.
Talking about mitigation landscapes, I have heard that this WFH exercise is opening corporate leaders' eyes about increased efficiencies in the workplace. Be that as it may, WFH is not a solution in itself. If WFH is adopted enmasse, we would just be trading one risk for another - one piece of well-positioned malware in video conferencing software would bring down the whole house of cards. So, WFH is good. But, it should always supplement work-from-office routines. Not the other way around. This is coming from a dyed-in-the-wool IT guy.
Instead of investing only in IT efficiencies, I think we should really be taking a hard look at our healthcare systems. I am hoping that this crisis sets the ball rolling in helping us deal with future pandemics. In particular, I was very impressed to read that China built a hospital in record time to scale up delivery of healthcare services. Once they had passed the peak, they scaled down service delivery of healthcare. We should be putting in place such measures here. In a pinch, every open piece of land in the city (think sports stadium and fair grounds) should be able to house a large healthcare facility each. We should scale up drug manufacture and delivery and then scale down when demand ebbs.