Provocation #2
Live with the virus

Might there soon be a medical breakthrough that eradicates COVID-19 from the face of the earth? In that case humankind will declare victory and move on. Or the pandemic might unleash new waves across the world, forcing stricter lockdowns and cratering economies beyond repair. More likely perhaps is that contagion will continue, and the world’s societies resolve to live with the risk in ways they have not considered so far. What will that compromise look like?[…]

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Joseph A. Maciariello: A man with a message
Timo Meynhardt

I’ve only met Joe personally four or five times for longer conversations and yet it’s as if his ideas, his encouragement, and his warmth have always been there in my life. From every meeting, every mail, but above all from every text speaks a friendly approach to the world, as it can only come from deep human love. It was really like this: To know him, was to love him. Joe Maciariello was a representative of what I would call the human warmth theory. On July 1st 2020, Joe died at the age of 78 and we mourn for him.[…]

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A Fierce Old Story: Fighting a Plague with Common Decency
by David Hurst

The rats gave the first clue: they staggered onto the streets, emitted a drop of blood from their noses and died in droves. As their bodies piled up, newspapers agitated, and citizens complained – why was the sanitation department not removing them? The rodents were collected and cremated and the citizens returned to their preoccupation with working hard and getting rich.[…]

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Leadership in a Post-Covid World: Where Learning Beats Knowing
by Bill Fischer

After a hundred years, we are once again fighting a global viral war that is seemingly everywhere and ever voracious. As with the Spanish Flu pandemic, once again we’ve been found wanting in our response, and deficient in our leadership. What’s worked, social distancing and hand-washing, were relatively simple techniques born decades ago.[…]

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