It has been a long time since we had something that overwhelms the news more than Covid19. This was a week where another developing situation took a life of its own.
All through the week from last weekend, we see demonstrators erupting all over the cities of America. Sadly, the inept handling of Trump in a crisis was magnified again. Instead of playing the commander in chief to calm the masses, he lit another fire under the burning furnace by doing more stupid things. Playing a tough guy against imaginary enemies is only good for reality TV and not real life. Upping the ante to challenge peaceful protestors is a dictatorial move.
Many people are now moved to react against the perceived double standards given to black Americans in their own country. How many more deaths under the police will it require? There are less violent crimes now than 20 years ago, but yet we see an increasing trend of black deaths where the guilty party gets unpunished. Aren’t the police force the protector of the people and not the enemy?
If it were to happen in my country, surely we will see a full investigation of it, regardless of the colour of our skin. Why is America, a developed first world country like that? Politicians call looters thugs as they steal and destroy property. When that happened in HK for 6 months last year, the same guys supported them as freedom fighters. The irony is deafening.
America has double standards for itself and the rest of the world. It brings to mind the book “Has China won?” by Kishore that I read recently. America believes that it holds a high virtue standard and wants to police the world. Yet time and again, it does to other countries the things that it will never do at home. Destroying governments that disagree with them and supporting the opposition is their means to an end and favourite past time. No wonder Putin hates them so much for helping to break up the USSR.
America is indeed a declining culture which is breaking apart now at the seams. Infrastructure is backward and everything is politicised. The group at or below the poverty line has actually seen their income decreasing in the last 25 years while the rich get richer. Why is it happening to the richest country in the world?
I am glad to see that the major companies are now beginning to take a stand on “Black lives matter” battle cry and siding with the protestors. This abhorrent behaviour by the police should be checked. Too many new deaths will not allow it to be swept under the carpet anymore.
I spent more time this week doling out more MCQ questions as part of my short term contract project. Some days, my outputs are slow and mental blocks severe. My first deadline for submission is next Friday. I think I am on track and getting into the momentum now.
I also participated in a very fruitful conference call on Monday with the founder of the consultancy group with all of the principal consultants. It was to discuss how the Covid19 situation may make many PMETs lose their jobs in the financial sector. In order to stay relevant, how can these people have a successful mid-career transition into other areas that are blossoming, like Data Analytics?
We would have the opportunity to work with a government-related body to help develop a program to help the likely to be retrenched workforce redeploy themselves into another area within the financial sector. It will be meaningful for all of us ex-bankers to give back to the industry. There will be many brainstorming sessions ahead but doing it on a pro bono basis with not deter all of us from sharing and contributing.
On the personal front, it was a week of drama with a social media scare in the family which was resolved by the end of the week. I am proud of the family member who made decisive actions to confront the issue head-on. The tide did turn from initial negative reactions to changing into a view of the group who had a sincere apology and are contrite, having learnt a life long learning lesson. The growth in maturity is a pleasant end result which will be remembered for a long time.
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