Amid the grim realities that the world seems to wake up these days, irrespective where you are, in the connected world that we live in- one nation in distress has the ability to halt the progress of many others in one way or the other and when that nation is powerful, influential and large- the impact and ramifications are, needless to say, long lasting, deep and cascading! but within these spaces of hectic and chaotic unfolding resides the promise of a wiser way. There is an opportunity to get more clarity on whats’ around, why it is the way it is and what is that you and I can do to ensure, that next time around- we remain as sane as we can! Join me here we take a quick journey around our today, to know how we arrived here, what could have been done better and what is that we can do even now to ensure we don’t let some unwelcome parts of history repeat themselves! So here we go!

Much of our world is dominated today with the developments and news around nations on how they are coping up to the pandemic, needless to say, the first area to unmask is to understand what really is happening around you! Based on your luck- not about being whether your are rich or poor, but about how dumb and clever your leaders are, you would have either by now overcome the brunt of this pandemic or would be still grappling with it! Sure enough as this pandemic unfolded, and people were still trying to figure out what hit them, many lives were untimely lost, and the whole world ended up being into one big clinical trial lab, with everything being thrown at the sick with an effort to save them, not knowing when, what will work! Yes, we did get the medicines which did buy us more time and eventually the vaccine, but the real unmasking that needs to be done is not about all of this, you too know all this too well, how well it played out in your neighbourhood, what needs unmasking is the understanding of what led to this mayhem in the first space!

Whether it was accidental or intentional is now purely of academic interest because, now after millions of lives lost and many more millions completely shattered economically, there will never be any sense of complete compensation or apology from anyone, even if anyone wanted to go ahead and offer one! The whole point in the pandemic space is more about, what was done, not done and how leaderships the world over reacted, making an already complex problem more easy or more complicated! The allowance of the pandemic to run riot the way it did across societies, also highlights the importance of having able, wise and mature leadership- whose ability to take timely and decisive decisions based on rational and scientific thinking could have made the real difference and saved many more lives then what we have collectively accomplished as humanity! This, is perhaps the first layer of unmasking- unmasking the fragility of failing and faltering leadership across societies- essentially having all the right people doing all the wrong jobs!

Irrespective what people say, the fact is that leaders and governments failed their people by being unable to provide what was needed when it was needed! This goes on to stress the point why public policy and politics is so vital and critical and why every vote matters and importantly what and whom you should vote for! It is this realization which will usher in change as and when the time comes for societies to make choices and correct their mistakes- whether they choose to forgive, forget and live to a dumb future or usher in change with a high accountability will vary from society to society and depend more on the other geo-political pressures that tick off at the very moment of decisive elections.

Apart from this broad level screw up on the public policy and administrative space- the pandemic also has created a deep impact on the way we work- I have earlier written about the Work From Home Pandemic which is yet another unfolding disaster in many ways! Add to this the layer of increasing levels of mental and personal disconnect and disengagement (which already was a menace in a connected world) we are staring at times in the future where we begin to wonder how to say a “hello” or perhaps start taking classes to know the right way to “shake hands” all over again!

For few, even the pandemic has presented opportunity to create wealth and profit, well no one can complain, if people start to seek warmth at the funeral pyres and death of other citizens, but this whole space of profit making, under cutting care and simultaneously making existing people slog over extended hours and at times fold up and shut down well working organisations under the garb of an pandemic -things like these are just adding up to the undercurrent of distrust and confusion that is already playing in the minds of the people! This just goes on to to show the amount of deterioration that a given society has undergone and the extent of indifference that has set in with regards to the well being of one another in a real genuine manner!

What the pandemic has done is, it has for once made a clear unmasking of the facts that, whether it be the political leadership, the business community or the so called fabled network circle that people tend to hold so close and dear all the time- when the crunch time comes, there is no assurance that any or all of them will stand by what they belief in and if not all, some of them will fail and depending upon how high your dependence is on what fails around you- the impact you feel and witness around you will be intense or mild! That is the singular reality that this unfolding pandemic has presented humanity with- it has gone beyond borders, to unmask the real abilities, orientations and preferences around societal leadership and depending on the quality of that leadership quotient, societies will stay afloat or sink rapidly!

The pandemic sure enough, has brought in a lot of pain, suffering and intense change which has altered the very core around the space of -who people were used to be and how they used to engage and connect with each other- going forward that will remain a psychological scar on every ones mind! The psychological scares of those who survived , those who witnessed the events unfold at close quarters and those who lost everything will create societies which are broken and fractured deep within and that is the next biggest risk that humanity faces- the challenge to heal the wounds and the scars of this global event! Unless a genuine and human approach is taken to address this space- social divisions and the emerging behavior from divided societies will go on to add more scars even as people struggle to heal the bygone ones’ .

The problem was never the virus- we were always going to find a cure- humanity always has- when it has been challenged to a grand scale- the real problem has been and continues to be the response and the reaction that we offer to solve a problem at hand- based on that defining choice that we make- either we simplify the problem or end up complicating it further and the latter is what has happened in case of the pandemic and we continue to suffer owing to the incompetence of the few who took the wrong turn to embed us more deeper into a corner rather then getting us out of the woods!

The pandemic has in fact brought into limelight glaring shortcomings all around us, Incompetence of Leadership, Collaboration, Trust, Failure to implement values that bind humanity across the world, the ugly face of opportunism, one upmanship, aid disguised as a favour, the real value of meaningful relations, social connects and for one time knowing well, that social media likes and dislikes have nothing at all to do when it comes to picking up the falling and faltering on the ground in flesh and blood! The real pandemic that will follow is the one, which will emerge from these cracked crevices of society- where every person will want to quickly and swiftly calibrate attitudes, pre-dispositions and approach to their own life and for those around them- as these readjustments happen- the world will set itself up for other subtler pandemics from time to time- which are more to to do with human behaviour and expression of all thats bright and all that’s dark!

I leave you here with these thoughts, take a moment in all this chaos around you to figure out what has the pandemic unmasked for you and what it that you are going to do about it- in the times ahead- so that you can create a better version of what you are today- just as I will and everyone of us should- to ensure that we are more resilient and prepared for the net wave that comes- not of the virus but of churning human thoughts and approaches rewired to a new context! Whether you like it or not, the fact is the world that we live in today is drenched in the blood of millions of innocent lives lost- not because a cure was not found- but rather humanity failed to come together when it mattered the most- to act with focus, intent and generosity!

Ciao for now, will be back soon with another one! Until then stay safe, stay wise and take care of all those, you can!

Simplifylives is offering a dedicated window to offer free coaching/Listening session for those who are seeking emotional support in these challenging times- It is our way to help people re-collect themselves and recover quick from the scars of this pandemic. For more details please write to us at simplify@simplifylives.com and we will reply to your requests as we receive them.