What are you scared of?
I crossed state boundaries to visit my mom. She lives in Maine and I live in Massachusetts. Crossing the line to visit, to bring fresh produce, and to fulfill my sense of duty brought me closer to a question that I am asking myself, and I wanted to ask my mom: “what are you scared of?”
This is the fifth blog post about COVID-19, or perhaps more accurately – the fifth post inspired by the virus. We are witnessing a global crisis playing out around the world – close to home here in the US and in those far-away places that used to be truly far-away. We are seeing heroism from healthcare workers placing themselves at risk. We are celebrating persons, institutions and even governments “paying forward” with donations of ventilators, personal protection equipment (PPE), and their own sweat and blood. At the same time, we hear allegations of elected officials selling their marketable shares with “insider” information. We learn of governments here in North America using the crisis to push unpopular actions while people are distracted and scared: e.g., recent efforts to advance the XL pipeline. Authoritarian regimes around the world are responding to COVID-19 with strong measures to control what people do, what they know and what they say: consider China and India - a socialist republic and a parliamentary democratic republic where charismatic leaders commands extraordinary power. Amidst the fog of this crisis, we need to evaluate our fears and discern the relative value we assign to freedom versus safety.
Since September 11th, 2001 communities here in the US and around the world have suffered from terrorist attacks that have sown seeds of fear into generations of peace-loving people. Beyond the fear of attack from people living outside of our community, we have adjusted to “home-grown” terror in the form of mass shootings and other acts of violence that have grown too common. COVID-19 is another version of this terror. It is a faceless, invisible fear that surrounds all of us. Will fear of terrorism and fear of a viral infection cause us to embrace the politics of control, choosing a model that promises safety and security? WIll self interest cause us to choose isolation from our family, from our neighbors and from the billions of people that co-inhabit the world with us?
Fear aligns with attitudes of scarcity. Hopefulness aligns with attitudes of abundance. Compare the wealth of the United States and the European Union with China and India. China faced COVID-19 first. The US and Europe are in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. India is just beginning to confront the virus. How will attitudes of scarcity prevail in these different countries? Will the political economies of each lead toward self-preservation, isolation and the further expansion of fear-based politics? Or will attitudes of generosity lead these countries toward collaboration and politics of cooperation and hopefulness?
As we consider the aftermath of this global health crisis, these attitudes will shape the policies, the new laws and the behavior of capital itself. We may have more restrictive policies on traveling: across state lines and between countries. We may have new laws that monitor our actions and behaviors - all to ensure public safety. Each of us has a role to play in determining the “post Covid-19” attitudes and behaviors. In the US we can tinker with incremental enhancements to keep small businesses afloat. Could we imagine insuring the 10% of our citizens that don’t have health insurance? How much of a stretch would it be to increase the US contribution to the World Health Organization to build a global monitoring system that could detect a viral or bacterial infection in time to contain it so that hundreds of thousands of people’s lives might be saved? Remember, the COVID-19 virus doesn’t know national borders or zip codes.
The creative, innovative, flexible thinkers amongst us might see the pattern that COVID-19 lays bare. We might see that we are all interconnected: people living in New Orleans, in Mumbai, in New York City, and in Jakarta. We are all one people. Our attitudes about scarcity and abundance will inform how we make investment decisions in the months ahead. Some of us will look at the collective potential of billions of people working together to build a better world. Others of us will look at the risks and the collective fear and invest in the security apparatus that buys us individual safety. Governor Brown sent New York 140 ventilators from Oregon’s stockpile. Governor Cuomo offered both thanks and assurances that New York would return the support. Courage, a spirit of collaboration, and an attitude of abundance shaped Kate Brown’s behaviors. As investors, we have a unique chance to bring these same behaviors to our investment processes to improve our lives and the lives of others.
We would love to hear your thoughts about inter-dependence and collaboration. Join the conversation on TILT’s website so that together we can both imagine and invest our way to a brighter future!
“My mom told me she wasn’t afraid of dying, but she didn’t want to die of COVID-19. She worked as a nurse for many years and at 84 years – I don’t think she is scared of much.”