I will try to be less obsessive with cleaning. I will follow the Japanese greeting tradition. Shoes outside the house, no kisses and hugs, which will be very difficult for me being Latin. Just a cordial greeting keeping our distances. Strange thing but it needs to happen, unfortunately.
Post-virus time I will be stepping out and speaking out more on the business-unusual: respect business for what value it brings to the people and the planet and support its growth according to the natural rhythm. Everything is alive and takes its due time. We should treat leadership development and sustainable business as such as well.
Politics will need to be less partisan. Our country and world will need to take better care of its citizens, with more comprehensive health programs and job protection. Education will continue to be a priority. The US will need to learn how to better embrace people from all cultures. We have a great opportunity.
Solidarity can get us through uncertain times. I believe when we decelerate from our busy lifestyles, we better understand what's really important. We should support people who have become isolated and lonely.
I also trust that the majority of my fellow country-men and women are following the recommendations that we are given. We have good public health insurance, and it has been strengthened during the pandemic. This means that you can stay home sick for 21 days without applying for a medical certificate. You will be able to get up to 80 percent of your salary—up to a salary of approx. 3000 euro per month. This makes it easy to follow the recommendation to stay at home, even when you have the slightest symptom.
We’ve seen how, in the space of weeks, industry can turn on a dime and innovate to produce emergency supplies to frontline workers in a crisis. I expect we’ll be seeing more innovation in the coming months and years to ensure that our communities, economy, and way of life are better prepared for such extenuating and unpredictable scenarios as the one we’re living now.
For us, community development practitioners, this has informed us on how to emphasize more on self-sustainability and working towards self-reliance for those we serve. It has also informed us that hand-to-mouth kind of work is undependable because this can change any time just as the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us.