Working to live or living to work?
We haveentered the phase of this COVID-19 pandemic when we are confronted, as individuals and as a nation, with the critical dilemma of working to live or living to work. Either option has adverse consequences and there is no middle ground except only for a few whose fortunes can sustain them without having to choose between life and work until a cure or a vaccine is discovered.
Ramon Ang’s well-applauded “I’ll choose life” statement at the height of the enhanced community quarantine may no longer be received with same accolades at this time when so many jobless Filipinos have no food to eat. Everywhere, there is so much pain and suffering and the end is not yet in sight.
McKinsey’s research finds that between 1.4 million and 2.1 million small businesses in the US could close permanently as a result of the first four months of the pandemic. The hard-hit sectors are (1) the accommodation and food services; (2) arts, entertainment, and recreation; (3) educational services; (4) transportation; and (5) wholesale trade. This finding also holds true in Bohol where the businesses in the tourism industry are shutdown temporarily. With demand slowing down or becoming nil, the entire supply chain of these businesses directly affected by the crisis also suffers significantly. Think about the farmers and the fishermen who supply their farm produce and fish catch to hotels and restaurants, the artists who earn a living out of the performance of their talents and skills in public shows and exhibitions, and the teachers who take pay cuts or are not paid due to the shutting down of schools.
People now turn to the government to revive an economy in a coma. As things unravel, it becomes clear that the government is flying the plane while building it.Mistakes, miscalculations, and may be lack of foresight on the part of the government can be consigned to history as nobody can claim to have the best strategy to beat the enemy. But evil and corrupt motives sugarcoated by pretensions of social amelioration or public good are downright deplorable.
Aside from funding a mass vaccination when one is available, the government must allocate its resources wisely and invest in activities and sectors with greater public impact. The government cannot and will never be able to alleviate every Filipino’s hardships in this crisis. The best that it can do is to stimulate the economy to have its cogs turning. Every single cog in the economy is represented by individuals and business entities. Each must move to keep the economy alive.
With the coronavirus as an existential threat to humanity, Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution is arguably the governing principle for survival. According to Darwin, all species and organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations that increase the individual’s ability to compete, survive, and reproduce. As humanity battles the unseen enemy, people who have the ability to compete and survive amid this pandemic have greater chances of seeing the sunrise.
Instead of bemoaning the loss of our lifestyles before the crisis, the race is now headed towards findingnovel ways to live under the new normal. With the acceptance of these current realities, the “working to live or living to work” dilemma can be creatively resolved. – By Atty. Greg Borja Austral, CPA