Be patient and prudent...

There’s much debate these days about when and how to begin rolling back the restrictions we’ve all been living with for the past several weeks. I think most people want to survive this pandemic and are willing to do nearly anything reasonable to do so. If reasonable means staying healthy by self-isolating for longer than we thought, then that, however unpleasant, is probably ok.  But if reasonable means suffering economic ruin – losing a job and/or a home – that’s not ok. And it’s these two seemingly opposing options that is starting to make people act out. If you’re beginning to go stir crazy – I get it; if you need to go out to find ways to avoid economic ruin – I get that too. But if you just want to go to the beach or out with friends, I think you have to suck it up until the science tells us when and how it’s ok to do so. But, there’s no mystery about this – we all just want to stay alive and have something left to live for.  A leader’s role is to help their people find a light at the end of their tunnel, and to encourage them be patient, reasonable, prudent, and safe while doing what they have to do today.

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821 – 188): Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and journalist