Seize the opportunities that this experience is presenting to you; don't waste this time waiting for life to start back up. This was the essence of the end of a group message that one of my colleagues sent to his athletes today. I found the idea profound. Another of my friends had a similar message in open email to his graduating seniors. I feel that it is one that we as a society should take to heart.
There has been a highly politicized push to return to "normal" as soon as possible. Even I find myself longing for things to become more "normal" again. However, if there is one thing this crisis has taught us, it's that "normal" wasn't really all that great. Look at what we have learned from a month of being shut down.
We've found that our healthcare system is filled with devoted, caring, and often overworked people, yet is clearly broken as a system. We did not have the protections in place, the equipment prepared. Many people aren't receiving or able to receive treatment due to a lack of healthcare coverage (something that many people lost due to the economic impact of this pandemic). And some of those dedicated, amazing healthcare workers are experiencing some of the most horrific scenes of their lives while others are being furloughed because the hospitals aren't doing elective surgeries, which is the main way that they receive the funding to operate at all.
We discovered that companies needed trillions of financial aid within only days after the end of a long running bull market which had their stocks at their highest levels ever. Within days they were on the brink of financial collapse. Meanwhile, that aid they received was supposed to keep them from laying off workers (spoiler alert: many started laying off workers anyway).
We watched as people in the middle classes do not have the ability to go without a paycheck without putting everything they own and due at risk, to the point that they will protest to go back to work despite possible danger to others because of the more immediate threat to their families. Meanwhile, the jobs which people had sneered at before have now been labeled "essential" (meaning that they always were), keeping lower income employees working with limited safeguards for them and their loved ones, yet no commiserate raises in pay or benefits (aside from some token gestures). And that stimulus sent out, most went to large businesses who received it in a matter of hours, but those citizens who need it the most, who don't even have the ability to have it directly deposited, are still waiting.
I'm not even going to discuss the problem of trust that we have developed for our government, scientific community, and media.
During this time, we should be examining our idea of "normal." We should use this opportunity to make a better normal, not just long for a return to the poor facade that we saw before. We need to take this time to better ourselves as a nation and to improve the lives of everyone within it.
There has been a highly politicized push to return to "normal" as soon as possible. Even I find myself longing for things to become more "normal" again. However, if there is one thing this crisis has taught us, it's that "normal" wasn't really all that great. Look at what we have learned from a month of being shut down.
We've found that our healthcare system is filled with devoted, caring, and often overworked people, yet is clearly broken as a system. We did not have the protections in place, the equipment prepared. Many people aren't receiving or able to receive treatment due to a lack of healthcare coverage (something that many people lost due to the economic impact of this pandemic). And some of those dedicated, amazing healthcare workers are experiencing some of the most horrific scenes of their lives while others are being furloughed because the hospitals aren't doing elective surgeries, which is the main way that they receive the funding to operate at all.
We discovered that companies needed trillions of financial aid within only days after the end of a long running bull market which had their stocks at their highest levels ever. Within days they were on the brink of financial collapse. Meanwhile, that aid they received was supposed to keep them from laying off workers (spoiler alert: many started laying off workers anyway).
We watched as people in the middle classes do not have the ability to go without a paycheck without putting everything they own and due at risk, to the point that they will protest to go back to work despite possible danger to others because of the more immediate threat to their families. Meanwhile, the jobs which people had sneered at before have now been labeled "essential" (meaning that they always were), keeping lower income employees working with limited safeguards for them and their loved ones, yet no commiserate raises in pay or benefits (aside from some token gestures). And that stimulus sent out, most went to large businesses who received it in a matter of hours, but those citizens who need it the most, who don't even have the ability to have it directly deposited, are still waiting.
I'm not even going to discuss the problem of trust that we have developed for our government, scientific community, and media.
During this time, we should be examining our idea of "normal." We should use this opportunity to make a better normal, not just long for a return to the poor facade that we saw before. We need to take this time to better ourselves as a nation and to improve the lives of everyone within it.
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