Our Generation's Great War

I will paraphrase Fight club, and say the Covid situation will hopefully toughen our generation which has never had any great war to deal with. This is a great opportunity to prove to ourselves, if not to anyone else, that we are made of sterner stuff instead of buckling down to anxiety, cynicism and panic. We are all tough men and women who will do what it takes to instill confidence in our family and friends, and act now so we come out of all this insanity as better versions of ourselves. What a great chance. What a great once in a lifetime chance is what I say to this.

Having been brought up in a family which gave this nation three generations of soldiers, I often found myself seeking the views of these heroes and heroines on the topic of courage. If I were to filter their advice - courage and the actions spawned from it are pretty simple to summarize.

First figure out what you can control, and then do what is in your scope of control. One thing at a time. With complete focus and zero fear.

In this outbreak, if we are not frontliners from the medical and emergency services community - our scope of control is merely the simple task asked of us. Stay home. Maintain social distancing. Wash your hands. Simply ignore the Covidiots and whatever others are doing. Give your self a pat on the back and move on.

In our scope of control is to be positive (not Corona positive) and revisit the skills one has and how can they be deployed to help our family, immediate community and organization. Do we appear weary, stressed out in our interactions or do we create a plan that helps our family deal with the lockdown and ensure medical and daily supplies without hoarding or drop kicking people over toilet paper. For example, I am told now and then I am mildly good at communicating complex messages and maintaining calm. So in my scope of control is sharing positive messages, help break the chain on the negative narrative around increasing fatalities, infection cases etc etc. What i did last week was create a page which only showed positive news from around the globe about the ongoing efforts on treatment protocols, vaccines - anything that can give hope and inspire. (https://www.facebook.com/unmaskedsmiles/?modal=admin_todo_tour)

In our scope of control is our efforts towards the organization where we work, and what sort of example we set for our colleagues.

As a marketer and a novelist, I find the world to be a blank page. The big red reset button has been pushed. Things have changed. In many ways, the reality of today is even more exaggerated than fiction. So why not look at this as a never before chance to think ahead on how the world is changing, and how it impacts our scope of work and the organization. How will things look when the dust has settled and will the organization be ready to make the most of this completely changed world?

We owe this attitude, this foresight that we need to exercise to all the privileges we have enjoyed as part of the most peaceful and prosperous time in human history. 

We owe it to the education we have been fortunate to receive. 

Above everything else, I for one thing we owe it to our parents who sacrificed so much to put us in this situation where we can make a difference. 

As educated folks, we understand the levers that have brought us to this point. And now that we are here, follow instructions and do the simple things that are asked by the Government and what is in your scope of control.

What we do in the next few months, and the fearless way we do it will be memorable to older versions of ourselves. For some, it will be redemption from what we had reduced ourselves to. For some it will just be business as usual. Do we put our heads down, dig in and calmly act or do we panic and add to the panic?

Today we are all Jack's right foot. Lets kick some Covid 19. Calmly, without touching each other.