When Life is UNDER SIEGE

When Life is UNDER SIEGE

Apologies.  This piece is not akin to those action-packed movies of Steven Segal as we're more concerned when our LIFE is UNDER SIEGE.  Is our LIFE is UNDER SIEGE ?  Absolutely I think so that way.  With the way this global pandemic has shaped up for last eighteen months, no amount of global powers by the G-7 countries can tame it off.  Not even the combined financial war chest of the world's top billionaires in Bill Gates, William Buffett et al, would be enough to tame off this uncontrolled Covid-19 pandemic.  So, at this point, we are all on the same page that our LIFE is UNDER SIEGE.

What adjectives can we stamp on this pandemic ?  Unprecedented.  Unparalleled.  It just caught the whole world flat-footed, even the world's top policemen like the U.S., U.K. and the rest of the G-7 countries.  Back into our personal lives, has our LIFE been UNDER SIEGE ?  Absolutely, no IFs, no BUTs.  Our health, our welfare, our work, even our financial state have somehow been in tatters.

Factually, we do not have the divine prowess to even discuss about HEAVEN and HELL but as we speak now, who won't agree that we seem to be in LIMBO because factually, we seem to be NEITHER HERE nor THERE.  For businesses, the world has literally turned upside down.  The airline industry is a classic example.  Its load factor is down by at least 95%.  The travel business, it's the 'Siamese Twins' of the airline industry.  For manufacturing businesses, at the very least, their numbers are down by 50%.  Retail business is the hardest because of lockdowns.  And how about the INFORMAL ECONOMY ? They were totally shut off.

Without going around the bush, measures we gotta take now is NO LESS DRASTIC.  Even for those not [YET] impacted with financial strains, NO ONE is SHIELDED at all from worst case scenarios of one getting hit by the Covid virus [and now there's even the ugly head of the variant 'monster' threatening us much more seriously].  So, what exactly do we need to do ?  STRAP our belts.  TIGHTEN our belts.  These are not times to 'paint the town red'.  We could be as healthy as the elephant today but we are NEVER shielded from the risks we face today.

Vaccinations, yes.  Either we had it by now or are now queued.  But the concerns go way beyond the vaccines, it's beyond the roof in fact.  So, we're down to our PREPAREDNESS phase and the core of it is enveloped by our FINANCIAL PREPAREDNESS.  Message here is crystal clear:  we're praying for this ordeal to be over next year but ONLY GOD KNOWS.  The most we can get focused on is our FINANCIAL PREPAREDNESS for the worst-worst case scenarios IF this pandemic turns up its ugliest head.✅✅✅