The Dilemma

“Jack is a trader who lives of his mastery in distillation. He offers his tipples and juices from town to town, travelling from one part of the land to the other. His skills in distilling are only matched by the arts in his selling and his passion for sharing his products with others.

He obviously depends on a number of new customers that he likes to introduce to his spirits, but there are numerous loyal customers that he has met over the years and are regulars. He receives orders from them , and that marks his agenda and his route for this or any of his trips.

He has been roaming the land without any trouble for years, up until one night and by surprise he is assaulted by a gang of bandits , not far from the land where he has his base.

This villainous gang steals most of the production he was carrying around, leaving him with just a marginal quantity of his products. They also take all his money, leaving him in a desperate situation.

Before fleeing, the gang leaves a message urging their own need for money and they promise to not assault a victim for a second time, looking for new preys each time. Regardless of that, Jake is still stunned and hopeless.

Fortunately for him, the following day Jake coincidentally finds two of his very close friends, soldiers of fortune, who give him some support and encourage him to reverse the situation. They are sure it would still be possible to catch the robbers and possibly recover most of the stolen goods.

And thus, Jake is faced with the dilemma. Not any kind of doubt, but a question that might define his destiny forever:

Should he pursue them and recover what was stolen?

Should he forget about it and keep on with his trip , trying to sell the remaining stock he has left?

His friends encourage him to follow the robbers, the perspective of recovering his goods and defending his honour are considerable, and there is also an undeniable thirst for revenge. On the other hand, he would possibly face some danger , although he trusts his friends and he knows there is a good chance to recover everything together. But the pursuit would be long, maybe take months (like in "The Searchers"/"Centauros del desierto" as it's titled in Spain), and in those months he would possibly lose his clients and would have to start again from the scratch, even on a different land.

The alternative is less hazardous, he could just ignore what happened and sell the rest of his goods . It would be an easier option and, after some gruelling months, he would possibly still survive the monetary loss. However, he acknowledges that there is a risk of him being assaulted again, and even if the assailants were true to his word, there would be a risk for some colleagues in the same situation. Not pursuing them, would also mean maintaining his regular customers. Not changing his routine. After all, so many years of happy activity couldn’t be so easily demolished by a traumatic incident.

The following morning when Jake wakes up he knows very well which way he will go, he will take a way that will definitely condition the rest of his life….”

With this small parable about Jake, it's easily exemplified the situation that a huge amount of people face these days. A sudden and traumatic incident that has altered our lives, not only on its present dimension , but even on the future one. A point of no return. It doesn't change significantly for this matter whether the villain is the virus, the gang of marauders or whoever it actually is.

This article is called "The Dilemma" because the key to this history is precisely that epic dichotomy, that huge decision in front of us. That question posed to the main character of the history, as some kind of Luke Skywalker after his farmer days, and the crossroads about whether he should grab the past and hold onto what he used to do or accept that he had suffered something impossible to deny and evolve around it.

It′s the same dilemma that we face today. Not just as the product of a virus that emerged one day but as the consequence of a global sanitary emergency that triggered significant and major social and economical consequences, that changed the way we work, the way we consume and the way we socialize.

And it will be the same for millions of businesses worldwide. Starting with small restaurants and bars, but also for huge corporations, that will unquestionably have to rethink what they do and reevaluate whether their market proposals are still valid. Reinvention is the word. Total and full reinvention.

There are winners and losers on both sides. There are Apples, there are Nokias, but there are also Coca-Colas.

It will be either your future self or your past one. And one or the other, at least it is crucial that we face that dilemma, calculate our options and really understand and support whatever we choose as the right path to follow.

I'm making my mind about that dilemma. And you?

Keep yourselves safe and sound.

Amazingly still from the bunkers

Jaime Teulón