Atty. Gregorio B. Austral, CPA
Optimism: a driving force in 2023
A black swan is an unpredictable event beyond what is typically expected of a situation and has potentially severe consequences. As commonly used in finance, black swan events can cause catastrophic economic damage by negatively impacting markets and investments. Still, even robust modeling cannot prevent a black swan event. (investopedia.com)
The year 2020 was the year of the black swan, the COVID-19 pandemic that caused the death of millions of people and infected even more people worldwide. As the black swan spread her wings, the Earth stood still as governments shut down their countries’ borders, limited people’s movements, shattered the most cherished traditions of humanity, and grappled with the difficult choice of protecting public health or saving the economy.
The year 2020, including the ensuing year 2021, is a year of great disruption. Schools were shut down, forcing the education stakeholders to adopt online classes and other modes of delivery despite problems with internet connectivity and the teacher’s absence to supervise learning. The black swan spread the wing of misfortune to several businesses, forcing owners to closed shop and causing global labor income to decline. Millions of local workers and over many OFWs have so far been displaced by the pandemic, according to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). In the education sector, the pandemic shuttered several private schools while close to a significant number of learners were forced to quit schooling.
Fast forward to the year 2022. Just as we thought the economy would bounce back, the world was hit with a man-made calamity like the war between Russia and Ukraine.
As we meet the dawn of the new year, we hope to bid farewell to the black swan finally. We hope to bury the memories of the years 2020, 2021, and 2022 when our freedom to travel was severely restricted by the government, when our unsung modern heroes were greeted with the most stringent quarantine rules, and when even the last chance to say goodbye to departed love ones who died of the disease was robbed from the mourning family members.
As we greet the new year with the hope to come out from the darkness to light, we hope and pray to God Almighty that our sufferings will end. Soon! Let us not stop hoping. Let our optimism drive us to a more the promising year 2023.
Happy New Year!