In a few weeks the coronavirus pandemic has changed most people’s outlook on life. The certainties we once believed in have been shattered thanks to a miniscule organism that has humiliated the strong and powerful who believe they are always right and define success in monetary terms.
Unfortunately, this pandemic has also disrupted the lives of ordinary people from a medical, social and financial perspective. Their lives may never be the same again even when normality is restored.
But this is a time to live and not to give up on making ourselves better as we learn from experience.
One of the first things I learned about risk management is the importance to always have a disaster and business continuity plan in place. It seems that few risk models had factored in the eventuality of a global economic shutdown as a result of a pandemic.
After all it was over a century ago that the world experienced such a major medical crisis when the Spanish flu killed an estimated fifty million people.
Business will have to start building new risk models to ensure that, should another disaster strike the economy in the future, they will indeed be prepared to continue to operate and serve consumers. It is a part of human nature that we soon forget the consequences of past planning failures despite the eternal warning that history has a tendency to repeat itself.
Many must have been seriously affected by the fall in financial markets. Pensioners and those depending on dividends and interest income will undoubtedly feel the pinch of the fall in shares and bond prices. These people are not capitalists who deserve no pity simply because throughout their lives they saved money to live their retirement without financial stress.
One can just advise these people that they should not panic at this stage as this will serve no purpose. It is a time to live and not to despair. The world has recovered from horrendous crisis like the two world wars of the last century. It will recover once again this time round.
The world has recovered from the two world wars. It will recover once again this time round
Our political leaders need to see life beyond the next election. The way some world leaders behaved in this crisis was more about their ambitions to survive than about making the life of people better.
I do not blame them for sometimes giving the wrong advice to people. The medical profession was not always in agreement on what needs to be done to address this public health crisis.
After all, no living medical experts have experienced a similar pandemic in their lifetimes. What is important is that our political leaders should start strengthening the medical infrastructure of the country at a time when the ageing profile of the population is deteriorating.
This epidemic not surprisingly has hit older people with more intensity. Nature does not believe in equal sharing. It relies on the survival of the fittest.
But over the ages, we have been able to harness nature in a way that the more vulnerable are protected from the cruelty of the laws of nature. Admittedly, no system can ever cope with the surge in demand for medical facilities that are needed in such worldwide epidemics.
But rather than hoard toilet paper, we should be putting more pressure on politicians to invest more in the training and recruitment of medical staff, medical equipment and increased capacity of hospital beds.
The coronavirus pandemic has shown how unprepared the world is to deal with such major catastrophes. Both at an individual and at a societal level, we need to define afresh how we use our limited resources.
Benigni’s blockbuster film La Vita E’ Bella should inspire us all to keep believing that life is worth living even when the shadows of darkness overwhelm us.
We need to choose people to lead us who are genuinely interested in our well-being rather than our vote. Democracy is worthless if it leaves behind the weak and vulnerable.
This epidemic has shown how vulnerable elderly people are especially those suffering from some medical condition. We have also seen how low-paid workers risk everything when the economic activity of a country grinds to a halt.
Life is always worth living if we do the right things at the right time. We will always make mistakes but we will be stronger as a society if we care more for one another.
This is indeed the time for living.