Dear friend,

I hope you’re well. I wanted to use this chance for me to share some of my personal thoughts about COVID-19.

Originally sent on ERIC KIM NEWSLETTER. See sample email here.

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First of all, these are just my personal thoughts and opinions. Please do not think as I do, nor do as I do. I just wanted to share my experiences, because I’m personally curious about the experiences of others. Hopefully my experiences can inspire you to share your own experiences to your own blog.

1. My thoughts

My personal thought is this:

Corona Virus ain’t as bad as we think it is.

Of course, Corona Virus is far more contagious than many diseases we’ve seen in the past, but it seems the “kill rate” is actually far less than other diseases in the past. To my best understanding, the mortality rate (if you get it) is around 2%. This is significant, but also take into consideration — just because someone else has corona virus doesn’t mean there is a 100% certainty you’re gonna get it.

Thus we gotta consider:

If you socially distance yourself from others (I recommend 12 feet away), your chance of having someone cough into you is quite low.

From what I understand, you can catch Corona Virus from touching surfaces. But if you wash your hands 50x a day (like I do), and not touch your face or mouth with your hands, you will be ok.

Truth be told, I feel the worst for small business owners (restaurants), bars, and also health care workers. I know personally, Cindy’s dad has been affected (Cindy’s essay titled: “My Experience Living through History: War, Human Agency, and Non-Future” rang a strong chord with me.

2. Living THROUGH history.

Essentially we are currently living THROUGH HISTORY. It is currently a very painful and difficult time to be alive, but it is also thrilling and exciting.

I think the best mentality is this:

We are currently in war-time.

We are currently at war — not with a human enemy, but a biological one. And the upside is that all humans have been working together to DEFEAT the common enemy (covid-19). And I can personally attest:

Right now, people are actually far friendlier, kinder, and supportive of one another.

For example, I have FINALLY gotten to know my next-door neighbor. Why? They baked me some brownies, and I gave her a roll of paper towels. I’ve been waving hello to strangers in the street, and it is nice to hear strangers tell me: “Stay healthy!”

I remember when September 11th happened. I was in the 7th grade or so, and everyone in America was far friendlier to one another.

What I think is this:

During times of tragedy, there is more human-love and human-goodwill towards one another.

3. Good for the environment?

I saw this thing online of the pollution of China starting to clean up after COVID-19. And in America, we are moving less and polluting less. Perhaps this might be a chance for nature to heal herself a bit, and hopefully turn back the clock of “Climate Weirding“? (Thanks to Randy for the idea).

4. A brave new world.

I’m not gonna pitty-patty it. We are in war. People will die. People will get sick. Lots of people will lose their jobs (many have already), and society is going to undergo much hardship.

But — I truly believe:

That which attempts to destroy us only makes us stronger and more resilient.

Nassim Taleb calls it “Antifragile”– the basic idea is with us biological creatures (humans) — the stress and difficulty we undergo (which doesn’t destroy us) will actually be the growth mechanism to make us stronger.

5. You’re stronger than you think you are.

The last note:

You’re stronger than you think you are.

I will be the first to say that you’re stronger than you think you are. You’ve experienced far worse in the past, and our parents and their parents have experienced far worse. Human history has been plagued with the Great Depression, World War I, World War II, and other atrocities like the Holocaust.

I do not want to dismiss the suffering of anyone, but let us remember.

Humanity is here to stay and thrive on!

BE STRONG.
ERIC KIM

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How to Help?

Practical thoughts:

1. Order take-out from local restaurants. Support local mom-and-pop businesses. Support ‘hole in the wall’ places. If you’re in Southern California, LA, or Orange County, order some takeout from Long Hai Restaurant (Cindy’s dad’s restaurant). You can give him a call at (714) 838-8118 and put in your order! Say that you’re a friend of Cindy and Eric, and I’m sure he will hook it up.
2. Help health care workers. I think the best way to enact ‘effective altruism’ here is to help those in ground zero– those actually administering medical help. This means donating money to buy meals for those in hospitals, or those working in the emergency room. Maybe call your local hospital, and ask if you can donate money, food, meals, anything. Or maybe even buying face-masks for those working at ground-zero.
3. Give your friends and family a phone call. The biggest difficulty of social distancing — people are just sad, lonely, depressed, and anxious. The best way you can help friends and family is just give them a phone call to say hello! You don’t gotta say nothing special. Just spend some time with them. To talk gets our minds off things. Or play some internet-chess with them (lichess.org). Or FaceTime them. Or do a ‘Zoom Dinner Date’ meeting with them. Just eat your dinner together (virtually). This is one of the best ways to motivate them! Another thing me and Cindy have been doing — doing a virtual workout session with Cindy’s mom and my mom (Pamela Reif on YouTube is great) — and just put your phone into selfie video “FaceTime” mode (we use KakaoTalk video chat), and workout together!

Above all know that you’re the first mover for change. Stay strong, positive, optimistic, and know that you can be the agent of change.

ERIC