The glass is half empty too!
When the going gets tough, the tough get going. While the meek and the vulnerable lay by the wayside, faceless and nameless.
For long, this loaded phrase has been used to describe humanity’s indomitable spirit in the wake of a crisis, albeit with blatant ignorance for those who aren’t born tough. I have simply completed the phrase with the half-truth it chooses not to talk about.
It is no secret that the year 2020 gone by was one of the most eventful in modern times. Little did we imagine that the whole human race would be asked to lie low, stay at home, and avoid physical contact over extended and intermittent periods of time, with no real hope or end in sight. Offices moved to cramped homes and intruded private spaces. Learning moved to online classrooms. And the pressure to appear not just ‘prepared’ but to have ‘conquered’ this life-altering event became so immense, that even individuals with a high degree of resilience would have found it difficult to withstand.
Call me a pessimist, but it seemed that not enough attention was and is being paid to the glass being half empty. Most organizations and leaders offer a notional acknowledgment of the challenges that this disruption has brought into individual lives and communities, and swiftly move on to eulogize their own attempts at having successfully turned this insurmountable tide to their advantage. Even well-meaning individuals have left no stone unturned to appear like wannabe lotuses amidst the shitshow all around. Take a cursory look at LinkedIn or Instagram newsfeeds if you doubt me. Because humanity is so good at turning every threat into an opportunity, isn’t it?
The constant urge to drum up a feel-good and optimistic vibe even in a dire situation, has drowned out countless voices who would rather you hear their cry for help. You risk being shamed if you did not plan for an emergency, COVID or no COVID. Apart from the havoc wrought on by plunging financial or physical health, it is no secret that even the perceived strong have been dealt a severe blow to their mental health. Unfortunately, in this age of Social Distance, social media has very few filters to offer to highlight mental agony, self-pity, crumbling confidence or terminal personality decline.
In conversations with my limited friend circle, there are varying shades of opinions on the work-from-home model. Although largely looked at as a privilege that few industries enjoy, there is no denying that it is habituation and not choice that is driving the large scale adoption of WFH. It is very easy to miss the more painful details on how work has slyly intruded into our lunch and tea breaks (or even family dinners) as well as conveyance time, showing scant regard for the much-vaunted work-life balance. As long as you are smiling and thumbing up in your Zoom meeting snapshot, all is well.
There are, of course, the taboo topics of upheavals in domestic relationships with parents, partner, kids or even pets due to the round-the-clock exposure to every possible praiseworthy (read cringeworthy) traits that they possess. Hating your boss or your house-help is understandable, but expressing even the slightest emotional discontentment with your loved ones is absolute blasphemy. Even the best of friends shy away from discussing these issues, to simply avoid the feared ‘told-you-so’ or ‘how-could-you-possibly’ responses templatized by our society to skirt real discussions. On the professional front, organizations that are yet to offer a generous annual sick leave quota to allow employees a dignified break to address issues in their personal relationships, mental health or work-related burnout are light-years away from being deemed an employee-friendly workplace.
The pandemic also offered us a lofty vantage point to view the class differences in our society. While the white-collar industry workers like yours truly got busy debating the advantages and pitfalls of WFH, thousands of daily wage earners or migrant laborers were rendered jobless, penniless and homeless overnight. The same class of workers that expects a legally-binding severance pay for abrupt termination of their job, skillfully terminated or suspended the jobs of their house-helps or chauffeurs with zero obligation to support them financially in their tough times. They did not even have a platform to voice that injustice, forget having a curated plea for help or securing 50K likes for it.
We have been increasingly distanced from our support systems, both socially and emotionally for quite some time now much before COVID happened. COVID has just been a timely scapegoat to introduce physical distancing as well. As we try and redeem what’s left of ourselves in 2021, businesses and ‘influencers’ are busy capitalizing and commoditizing our individual insecurities around personal health, finance, lifestyle and education. As I write, somewhere in the world, a 6-year old is being exhorted to code complex programs while losing their ability to throw a ball or take a fall. A 21-year old has earned their first paycheck but not one true friend to call their own. A 42-year old is trying to achieve the build and agility of a 21-year old while berating every other friend who lost some hair or gained some belly, and a lonely 84-year old is hoping they could turn back the clock and do things differently altogether. Dystopian? Yes. Probable? Ofcourse, yes.
They say the more things change, the more they remain the same. We will continue hoarding stuff we don’t need. We will continue seeking higher engagement with wasteful products while disengaging with real people and real conversations all the time. Cordiality will soon replace camaraderie. Much of confessing, caregiving and empathetic listening is already being outsourced to Insta and FB stories and a handful of emoticons are used to express the whole gamut of real human emotions. And the great calamity will have its equally great workaround, trumpeted as humanity’s solution.
