COVID-19 — Welcome to the Hunger Games!

Life is a double-entry system where every loss is someone else’s gain

“This is the strangest life I’ve ever known” — said Jim Morrison. In the last months, I’ve been compulsively recalling this quote from the song “Waiting for the Sun”, by The Doors. The COVID-19 pandemic is the greatest ambiguity I’ve ever witnessed — and experienced. Both a calamity and an opportunity. A curse and a blessing. Two sides of the same coin. Life is a double-entry system where every loss is someone else’s gain. And this pandemic is no exception.

Equal proportions of despair and hope have now touched our lives more than ever before in the last decades.

If you’re reading this article, chances are you’ve been surviving — at least partially — which could prompt you to experience a delusive feeling of “safety”. Unfortunately, many close acquaintances also felt the same way before they were forced to painfully undersell their assets — their properties, their startups, their crypto, their art, and their stocks. Someone else is or will be readily available to engulf all these assets when the right time comes. What a feeling of hopelessness to be sucked into a game you never asked to play. But who would have thought an unfortunate combination of bad luck, deep uncertainty, and maybe a few bad decisions, would automatically enroll you in “The Hunger Games”?

COVID-19 is not the only one deciding on our fates. Should that come as a surprise?

The current global crisis would have been Charles Darwin’s playground. The survival of the fittest, or its contemporary equivalent, the survival of the richest, the only beneficiaries of this massive crisis. Who will adapt faster and better? Would you bet on it? I imagine some already have.

In the meantime, economists make their predictions as the pandemic speeds up a long-standing global economic trend which, evidenced by a fast-spreading cancer that attacks the middle working class, shows no signs of reversing anytime soon. In its place, poverty is rising.

But there’s no need to fret, we’re still full of hope. How couldn’t we? Jair Bolsonaro, President of Brazil, said, “We’re all going to die one day” when asked to say something reassuring to the COVID-19 victims’ families. How isn’t that comforting?

COVID-19 sets the playing field. A few privileged ones play referee. Someone has to decide who works, and who doesn’t. Who gets treatment, and who doesn’t. In other words, who lives, and who doesn’t. Someone has to play God.

This is one of those strange cases where the ones who make the rules apparently are not the ones to blame when things don’t work out the way they “should”. Who’s the culprit then? Are peddlers to blame for going out to make enough money for the food of the day, especially after being asked to stay home? Are small shop owners to blame for opening their stores to mitigate the debts that are eating them up? Are touristic attractions operators to blame for not being able to remain closed any longer? Many businesses have been prevented from generating any income, but bills and taxes pile up.

Uruguay, the country I live in, is an emerging economy. It has significant activity in the informal sector, but even in the formal labor market, companies have taken advantage of the situation to lay off part of their staff without enduring legal consequences — for instance, firing new mothers.

How about parents who need to go back to work but can’t send their kids to schools yet because they are closed? Most countries lack a legal framework to protect vulnerable populations from such circumstances. For some demographic groups, Government “solutions” are a life sentence without parole. Public policies transfer the problem to someone else. They craft solutions that make their COVID-19 numbers and finances “look pretty”, but make our numbers look insurmountable. Someone will pay the steep price of this pandemic. And it looks like it’s going to be us, the sacrificial ones — we’re the crisis’ collateral damage.

A friend of mine has a private health insurance paid by the company she works for. It’s a renowned health care provider. At the beginning of the pandemic, pharmacies were running out of certain medicines for the flu — which at the time were believed to be beneficial for treating covid-19 too. She called the local pharmacy and asked for one of those medicines. They told her it was temporarily out of stock. Then she said, “I belong to BCBS health insurance”. They replied, “Oh, wait, I think we have a few spare units.” Again, should this surprise us?

Where are we going? We’re getting somewhere, only we have no idea where, or when. At times, it seems our only hope stems from an almost tangible idea, some sort of Vaccine-God — the answer to all our prayers. But… is it?

In the meantime, “The Hunger Games” will run indefinitely. The second wave has just begun.

The few privileged ones on top of the feeding chain have hit the jackpot. We’re the ones left to sit and watch while they ferociously devour their prey, without the opportunity to save it from their claws, without being able to take back what’s ours. We’ll be lucky enough to get to rummage in their leftovers.

This is indeed an era of tremendous contrasts and paradoxes. Take, for instance, the countless people surviving on their limited life savings, begging for them not to deplete for as long as they need to keep on paying bills and taxes with close to zero income, while others keep on accumulating, like a hibernator getting ready for a long and cozy winter.

But maybe the greatest paradox of all is trying to subject humans — a social species — to social distancing for so long. Of course, it’s taking a huge toll on us. Social distancing is against our very nature. We might be more or less prone to socializing, but we’re still social beings. We could pull it off for a few months, but a year — and counting?

Human beings are a social species that relies on cooperation to survive and thrive.” — The Cooperative Human, Nature.com

How does the pandemic impact our nature?

After months of neglecting our very essence, is a more independent or detached human profile emerging? Social cohesion is one of the features that allowed us to thrive as a species in the first place.

Everything suddenly seems so surprising, but that’s because we’re approaching times of crisis with a normalcy mindset. We’re seeing a different world with the same eyes. Reality hasn’t got to us yet. When it does, we’ll be less shocked. We’ll expect anything. Hence, little might surprise us from now on.

There’s one sure thing, though. This pandemic is teaching us so much about ourselves, about the world, and the society we live in. But most importantly, it’s helping us recognize our misconceptions and prejudices. We needed something as shocking as a global pandemic to lift the veil off our eyes. Our society isn’t what we believed it to be. All it took was a crisis to crack our fragile reality and expose the hoax. To unmask the “selective cohesion” phenomenon society hides right beneath its more superficial layers. We’re not all on the same boat here. Society has visibly grouped in clusters with distinct attributes, and possibly different fates.

The pandemic has made it clear that we are the ones to watch out for ourselves. No one else will. How do we make sure we make it through this phase?

Since the playing field is already set, and we’re not the ones who make the rules, the only way to survive might be to avoid situations that pull us into the game and force us to abide by its rules. To remain under the game’s radar for as long as we can.

How do we minimize the chance of being professionally, emotionally, and financially looted up? By being as independent and self-reliant as possible.

For instance, being a digital nomad/freelancer/independent contractor is one way to gain control over your life, especially after the corporate world and traditional labor market have failed us. The “safest” work schemes are now ruining entire families. They now seem so vulnerable. This has been a hard pill to swallow. Everything our parents and grandparents believed in is now falling apart. This might set a precedent, through which our longtime beliefs regarding the traditional work culture are being challenged. Society has become disenchanted with the corporate work culture and doesn’t trust the labor market anymore.

Could a new professional approach emerge from this scenario? Corporations will still need people. But maybe our current crisis has introduced a new attitude towards work. What if we no longer worked for companies, but with companies instead? The traditional employee figure might shift to that of a contractor. A new prevailing professional relationship might surface. Could you imagine it? The days COVID-19 changed the way we work. As impossible as it may now seem, it’s not totally unrealistic. A paradigm shift to a new reality where companies don’t own us anymore. A much more flexible relationship with firms. Contractors could work with as many companies/clients as they wished. The beginning of the end of the employee-employer relationship.

Not every job is suitable for alternative work models, but many can be adapted to our new reality. I have already seen companies who hire mostly independent workers. It would be interesting if it became massive.

Staying as healthy as possible is another way to minimize over-reliance on external factors. You don’t want your weak health or a pre-existing condition to put you at risk during the pandemic. You don’t want to depend on a medicine someone else might deny you. Minimize the chances of health issues.

Let’s turn the playing field a bit to our advantage. To make it through the storm we’ll need to locate our strength reservoir. This is a perfect opportunity to grow as independent as we can, financially, emotionally, professionally, and health-wise, or we might find ourselves trapped in The Hunger Games. The game might not completely destroy us. It wouldn’t kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. But it might take from us as much as we allow it to.

An important aspect of self-reliance is to slowly build financial freedom. Investing wisely is extremely important. Being resourceful and responsible for our assets. Doing our due diligence. Not following the masses. Diversifying. It’s important to understand the outreach of our decisions.

Whenever you have some spare money, try to spot someone who needs your help. It’s not that you need to save somebody’s day or to feel responsible for others, but you might be helping someone else be less vulnerable. In Uruguay, many poor people are surviving the pandemic merely due to soup kitchens (“ollas populares”) organized by volunteers all over the country.

Keeping in touch with relatives and friends, taking fresh air, and enjoying your hobbies will improve your mental health, which is also essential for your well-being.

It’s better said than done. But if you’re reading this, you probably have a choice. You can always find ways to turn your hobby or expertise into a side hustle. If you’ve been working for a company as a Data Scientist, you might keep on doing so independently. A neighbor is making shoes from his home. A teacher I know is correcting homework and teaching Spanish to foreigners. A friend who had a small clothing store is selling clothes online. Apparently, many businesses had to turn to online selling as a surviving strategy. There’s usually a way around things. Is it always easy? No, but it’s possible. Time for reinvention.

Regarding financial freedom, I must admit I don’t have huge savings, but I have an emergency fund, so I don’t need to undersell my home or my very limited investment assets to get out of a critical situation. Should an unpredictable situation present, your emergency fund will have you covered (at least partially) and you won’t have to let go of your assets in an untimely fashion.

Remember, the sharks are having a feast. Don’t let their next snack be you!