A REFLECTION ON THE VIRUS PANDEMIC – A HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVE

"Our human compassion binds us the one to the other - not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learnt how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future"- Nelson Mandela

The core of humanity is being challenged by a microorganism invisible to the naked eye. It is not every day in our lives we encounter a challenge of this nature. This is unprecedented. It stops you in your track, makes you pause and reflect. While politicians are focused on the health of the economy, businesses forced into survival mode and healthcare systems stretched, the real impact of this crisis involves people.

Whether it is climate change, advancement in technology, financial crisis, natural disasters and now, virus pandemic, one cannot ignore the dehumanising effect on people. Job losses, financial distress, impact on health and wellbeing, impact on the way of life and flow on impact on individuals, family and community is enormous. These are just not confined to the challenges we face in our day-to-day living but our morals, ethics, values and beliefs that we hold to be true too were challenged. On the other end of the continuum, the crisis also presents with an abundance of opportunity for humanity to evolve to a new level of consciousness.  

Human polarity

We are witnessing the polarity of our humanity. On one extreme people fighting over toilet paper partly for consumption but mostly for profiteering and on the other extreme people sacrificing their health and well-being to care for the sick including some sacrificing their lives in the process. This virus has brought out the best and worst in us. It exposed human greed as well as human generosity. We have a choice. While our sense of control of everything in life is a mere illusion, we are presented with a choice to exercise great control over our emotions and thoughts. Times like these call for human compassion and understanding. The more we think about others more this pain becomes bearable.

Human connectedness

This virus has connected humanity, unlike anything we have ever witnessed before. When many things connect us as human beings, we sought matters that divided and polarised us. However, this virus has caused the collective suffering of humanity transcending every conceivable man-made boundary – race, religion, colour, wealth, status, etc. It has centred us and connected us in this collective suffering, and thus, becoming a great equaliser of humanity. It has grounded us like nothing else before. It is time to embrace graciousness in the face of an unprecedented humbling human experience.

Pause and Reset

This virus has challenged the very fabric of our modern lives that revolves around individualism, convenience, comfort and materialism. Our fear, more than the virus, is letting go some of that. How our life priorities got rearranged by a microorganism? Health becomes our topmost priority now and to protect it we are resorting to desperate measures. What we do now affect not only us but the whole of community and family. It made us step away from the rat race and inertia, and made us press the ‘PAUSE’ and ‘RESET’ buttons of humanity.

Nature – It is Us

When climate change activists and environmentalists are fighting hard to protect the environment, this virus has done something unimaginable. It has forced us to slow down by reducing our activities and destructive footprints that we leave behind due to our lifestyles and consumption-driven growth model. Where humanity failed or dragging its feet, the nature in its way decides to heal itself even momentarily. The irony is that we see us separate from nature when there is so much in us we fail to appreciate how connected we are to nature. If you want to experience that connection just step away from all your electronic gadgets, go for a walk in the forest or beach and become one with its stillness.

Perspective

We live in a society where we revere professional sportsmen and sportswomen, actors, singers and celebrities. Why? They entertain and make us feel good. They give us a much-needed distraction from our often monotonous routine lives. However, recent unprecedented natural disasters and, now, the virus pandemic has made the society realise whom we should truly admire. It is not the celebrities who are at the front line to save us but everyday heroes who are often forgotten and most are underpaid for the risks they take. In the face of adversity, humanity gains perspective.

Purpose beyond Profits?

At a time when people are facing significant hardships, the thought of someone profiteering from the crisis on the other end appears to be repugnant. However, this is the basic construct of our economic model where you find unfulfilled needs, invest to exploit the conditions to make a return. It is that simple and somewhere we lost the balance between greed and purpose. The business growth model is linked to sales, volume and profits driven by the need for more year on year. So how much more do we want before we feel fulfilled? Should we reassess the definition of success? Hard questions to answer. Now, this virus pandemic is posing serious questions on this very foundation. Time is ripe to rethink this foundation and the model of distribution. Social consciousness or environmental friendliness should no longer be business slogans but something deeply ingrained in its way of being.

Ways of working

Many corporates offered one-day a week Work-from-Home as an employee benefit. Now the world as we know it has shifted and it is not the same anymore. What was a benefit once is the norm now. It took some time to adjust but we, human beings, are amazingly resilient and we adapt to changes when we are pushed to the corner. No project managers, no change managers were involved in managing this significant transition. Now having set up our virtual offices, we are finding we are more productive and more connected. It is a paradigm shift and it just happened! We are learning how to manage for outcomes than managing people. Paperless offices had been an ideology for years but only a handful of progressive organisations achieved this. However, having moved to virtual offices printers and paper may be a thing of the past. They say necessity is the mother of all inventions.

Human Ingenuity

This is a time of unprecedented uncertainty. In uncertainty human ingenuity and resilience thrive. This virus has made us dig deep and tap into our human potential to survive this crisis and we are witnessing its play. Recently I was told what was debated and argued for 15 years was delivered in 10 days! It has created the perfect burning platform to drive us into action and innovate. It is this human ingenuity that will see us through this challenge and coming out of this, hopefully, more spiritually awakened, and much stronger together.

Concluding reflection

Will this be a turning point in human history? Will this make us rethink and reassess our values, beliefs and assumptions underpinning our lives? Will future workplaces be more humanised? Will we see ourselves connected to nature and learn to live in harmony with it? Will we appreciate our unity instead of divisions? Will there be more compassion and love in the world beyond greed? Or simply will the world be a better place? Only time will tell. One thing is for sure it requires a major paradigm shift and we are midst the perfect storm to enable this evolution.