This is a difficult and uncertain time for all of us. The continued spread of COVID-19 has disrupted all sectors as well as the work and lives of people worldwide. Facing the pandemic, we are reminded to be alert, and to have a rational, calm, cautious and optimistic attitude, but not to panic. While expressing our deep regards to those who suffer from the coronavirus, we also want to thank everyone working on the front lines carrying out care work and essential duties to protect us.
Viruses have no national boundaries. What we are fighting against is the new virus, not countries, nationalities or races. The outbreak is yet another reminder that we are part of a global community that shares an uncertain future, and that no one can meet common challenges alone.
The pandemic will change the world order for a long time. Whether an economy can unite and prosper depends to a large extent on its people’s perception of their government’s ability to predict crises, to handle them promptly and to lead the post-crisis development. Governments from different economies need to plan ahead for the changing post-COVID-19 socio-political-economic environments. Facing this common challenge to humanity, we should further unite and collaborate instead of dividing or competing.
To restore things and move on, many organizations at this critical moment have promoted resilience, positiveness, trust, connectedness, sharing and unity among people. At the same time, free sharing of knowledge and valuable cultural assets gains more popularity while study and work from home continues. For instance, many universities have shared their courseware with the public for no charge, e-book publishers open free access to their book collections, and many museums and performance bodies offer free watching channels to the public.
Around the world, we have seen heartwarming stories of people coming together to inspire or help others, be it through delivering food and medicine parcels across borders, distributing free masks and hand sanitizers to the needy, caring for neighbors’ well-being, holding free online live concerts and talks to uplift people, or transforming some businesses to help relief initiatives.
A new difficult era has come and we all need to adapt and handle it effectively. In human history, we encountered many such similar difficulties or crises such as wars, plagues, great recessions, global financial crises, terrorist attacks, earthquakes, typhoons, tsunamis, nuclear plant disasters, etc. These caused the loss of lives, sickness, broken families, poverty, unemployment and recessions. The world is currently experiencing a historic health crisis that forces all of us to rethink the way we live and work.
Some psychologists have found that after a person’s tough journey and suffering, he or she would enhance his or her resilience and self-recovery power with greater perseverance and self-confidence in handling future difficulties. Human success always comes from adversity and expounding on their very best during difficult times.
We know that self-isolation or social distancing can at times be hard. But it gives us more opportunities to slow down, pause and reflect on our life values. It leads us to rethink who we are, what our original intents are and what makes us human.
Surely, we can learn new important lessons from this pandemic. It reminds us of a number of common values:
Health is invaluable and we need to look after ourselves well to avoid infections or sickness; one should always strengthen his or her own physical, psychological and value immunity system; the importance of the family and family members’ caring, especially during difficult times; to be humble as a small virus can stop the whole world, and to realize that individuals cannot defy nature; all people are equal and we need to treat all people equal especially during crises; people need to be connected without borders, though viruses transmit through borders; human beings should care and save our environment, ecology and lives; the failures of Western capitalism and consumerism should be fixed, stopping selfish executives and investors who maximize returns at the costs of other stakeholders; and the pandemic and other diseases are a call for human love.
We hope this crisis can awake more people, avoiding another reminder of nature. If not, the end of this pandemic will just be the start of another cycle, and it will continue until we have learned the real lessons.
Social distancing does not mean “social isolation”. During this period, we could spend more time with our families and express more care for relatives, teachers, friends and colleagues by phone or e-messaging to regain the human touch that may have been put aside amid our busy lives in the past. We have learnt that increased physical distancing will not affect deeper caring for each other.
As the saying goes, “When there is risk, there should be opportunity”. The late Austrian-American economist Joseph A. Schumpeter introduced the creative destruction theory. The pandemic has been destructive, but it has also produced creative destruction bringing innovations and new opportunities.
For example, remote real-time video-conferencing or teaching has become part of our new lives, which also brought many new business and employment opportunities creating shared values. Having replaced face-to-face teaching with real-time video teaching for some months, many teachers and students have equipped themselves for future new trends in learning and communication. Many teachers have also attempted to implement some innovative teaching concepts (e.g., flipped classrooms and blended teaching) and to turn “teaching” into more “learning”.
And we now understand more about the characteristics and transmission channels of COVID-19. We know that it will take a longer time before the pandemic can completely disappear. However, we have to resume normal work and school gradually as it is difficult to work or study from home for a long time. We should be prepared that even if the pandemic has not completely subsided, as long as we have the right mindsets and adequate precautionary measures to reduce the risk of transmission, we can gradually return to our normal lives.
Challenging times often bring out the best in us. When the pandemic is over, we shall see a new vista of life with “new normals”.
The author is president of the Hang Seng University of Hong Kong.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
