Post-COVID 19 | The “New Normal” | F.i.l.b.e.r.t.
I’ve probably heard this statement one too many times, which has become synonymous with any conversation we have about post-COVID 19. We want to go back to what we know, our safe place, comfort zone, a place with fewer risks, predictable outcomes, and election politics. Some of us want bars open, for others, it’s their businesses, jobs, schools, restaurants, anything we held dearly back then before the novel coronavirus came among us.
Can we go back to normal? Should we go back to normal? Will we go back to normal? The short and straightforward answer, NO. Not even in a thousand years. On second thought, I think we can do it in a thousand years.
The truth is, normal wasn’t working. Think about poaching, pollution, global warming, corruption, wildfires, typhoons, and hurricanes. We took essential workers for granted and paid them peanuts while spending millions on others who did nothing. Normal wasn’t working. We didn’t care about hygiene.
How long before we stop washing hands often, wearing masks, and not touching our faces. I am not sure, but I am sure it isn’t tomorrow, or next week, or the week after. Things will and have to change. Masks will even evolve with fashion, washing hands, and keeping them clean will become a subconscious reflex.
Everything we do; mistakes, achievements, and failure teaches us a lesson, and you’re never the same after an experience. If we go back to normal, we will have lost the lesson, the lives lost and investments made, all will be for nothing. Doctors will have taken the sacrifice for no reason at all.
We need to rise and do better, get better, be better. Learn our lessons, live in a better world, reduce our carbon footprint, and realize that animals are thriving without human interventions. We need to learn that we don’t have to go to the office to work, reduce traffic jams, plan for catastrophes, pay essential workers better, prioritize our well being, take care of the vulnerable and elderly, and choose better leaders. We have seen how our leaders have done under pressure. Some have thrived; others just went one from one mistake into dozens and didn’t even realize and turn back. Others cared about their interests at the expense of people’s lives. The rest cared about elections than dealing with a pandemic. We don’t need normal. We have a lesson to learn and another level to be in soon.
You lost your job; you will get better, start a business, get employed at a better place, the future of AI is bright, and we’re moving there fast, helpful in all industries, even medicine, we don’t have have to see our doctors dying for wanting to help. Education and learning, we can do better. Let’s adopt new healthy habits. We are on our way to new challenges, we’re better and smarter than we were a few months ago. We will be ready for our new normal
Also, Post COVID-19, don’t be left behind wallowing in the miasma of isolation. Adapt, continue growing, and find success. The process of finding our new sweet spot won’t be easy. The novel Coronavirus has exposed existing weak links across government and government agencies, industries and how our economy is not resilient to change. There is a need for a shift in policymaking, a change in how we hold discussions and make decisions if we need to see the transformation and overall boost in our societies.
Adapting to change won’t be easy, and we need to hope for the best and plan for the worst. Predictions by World Bank show that the virus is pushing 40–60 million people into extreme poverty. The number of people living on less than $2 per day is estimated to grow from 8.2% to 8.6%. 23 million of those pushed to extreme poverty are expected to be living in Sub-Saharan Africa
Originally published at https://filbertmbugua.com on June 5, 2020.
