Yes, we’re all doing stuff from our home offices. I don’t know what your office is like, but mine’s quite nice. I like it. Until I noticed a strange smell yesterday. Didn’t know what it was, so I had to look around the room a lot, then suddenly realised …

… there was an elephant in the room.

How the hell did I miss that?

I mean it’s huge!

How could you spend days, weeks, months, working in the home office and miss it?

How long has it been there? And what does it represent?

I didn’t know, so I asked it. Here’s how the conversation went.

 

Me: Who are you?

Elephant: I am the economy.

Me: What are you doing here?

Elephant: I thought you should be aware of me.

Me: Of course, I’m aware of you, but you’re a bit sick at the moment like all of us, aren’t you?  

Elephant: Yes.

Me: So, why aren’t you wearing a mask?  

Elephant: Donald Trump said that I didn’t need one.

Me: But he’s also been sick?  

Elephant: Yes.

Me: Do you know what’s going on?

Elephant: No, but what I do know is that your people have messed me up.

Me: My people?  

Elephant: Yes, your people. Your governments, your leaders, your decision makers. All of them are messing me up, and I’m not happy.

Me: But they had to mess you up to deal with this disease.

Elephant: Coronavirus?

Me: Yes, of course. You know.

Elephant: I know what?

Me: You know. The disease has meant that we have all had to stay at home, lockdown, not go out, not do anything this year.  

Elephant: Is that what happened?

Me: Absolutely. I thought you would know.   

Elephant: No one told me.

Me: But it’s obvious. If people die from a disease, we have to stop the disease.  

Elephant: But what about my disease?

Me: Have you got coronavirus?

Elephant: I’ve no idea what I’ve got, but I feel sick.

Me: What are the symptoms?  

Elephant: Well, no one is doing anything, going anywhere, buying stuff, travelling, or doing stuff that is my usual day-to-day. I’m starving.

Me: What can I do?

Elephant: Tell people I’m dying.

Me: But I think the people who count know that.

Elephant: They claim they do, but they don’t.

Me: OK, you told me the symptoms, what are the cures?  

Elephant: Spend, spend, spend.

Me: Urmm. Governments are.

Elephant: It’s not enough. I need more.

Me: But there is no more. It is what it is.

Elephant: No, it’s not.

Me: It is.

Elephant: No, it’s not.

Me: It is.

Elephant: No, it’s not.

Me: It is.

(this went on for a while)

Elephant: The world is not what you think it is.

Me: Que?

Elephant: The world does not work the way you think it does.

Me: Pourquoi?  

Elephant: The world was built on an idea.

Me: Go on.

Elephant: The idea was that money makes the world go around.

Me: It does.  

Elephant: It doesn’t.

Me: It does.  

Elephant: It doesn’t.

Me: It does.  

Elephant: It doesn’t.

Me: It does.  

Elephant: It doesn’t.

Me: It does.  

(this went on for a while)

Elephant: Money does not make the world go around, people do.

Me: Obvs.  

Elephant: But you lost the plot.

Me: Really?

Elephant: Yes, and that’s obvs too.

Me: What is?

Elephant: That you let things go. You lost the plot. The planet was being messed up, you flew around the world without a care, you had no consideration for me or for the planet.

Me: I did.

Elephant: My family were all massacred by poachers. Did you care about that?

Me: I did. I give money to the World Wildlife Fund every month.  

Elephant: Bully for you.

Me: So, what does all of this mean?  

Elephant: It means change.

Me: Sure, we always change.  

Elephant: No, it means change forever.

Me: In what way?  

Elephant: Don’t go out, don’t travel, don’t mess up the planet, don’t do the things you used to do.

Me: A new normal?

Elephant: Yes, but that’s what politicians call it. I call it: a new economy.

Me: A new economy?

Elephant: Yes.

Me: What does it look like?  

Elephant: It’s completely different.

Me: In what way?  

Elephant: No one goes here, there and everywhere. They stay local.

Me: They stay local?  

Elephant: Yes. Everyone shops locally, back on the main street. The shopping mall is dead.

Me: Wow!  

Elephant: And everyone shops digitally.

Me: Of course.  

Elephant: Yes, but you may not have realised what that means.

Me: Tell me.  

Elephant: It means that all of the big stuff – groceries, entertainment and such like – is all done digitally. All of the small stuff – fresh vegetables, eating out and such like – is all done locally. Main street is back.

Me: But that sounds like a major change.

Elephant: It is a major change.

Me: But we are going back to the way it was, aren’t we?  

Elephant: No. I’m afraid you’re not.

Me: So, I should invest in digital companies?  

Elephant: No, you should invest in companies that understand digital and physical in the new world of limited movement, limited travel and limited societies.

Me: And who are they?  

Elephant: You know. But don’t just think of the Big Tech guys. Think about firms that do logistics and delivery. This crisis is a major bonus for firms like UPS, DHL, Ocado and such like.

Me: Useful. Can you go now?  

Elephant: No. I am your elephant in this room.

Me: You mean there are others?  

Elephant: Yes. My family were massacred by poachers but their ghosts are everywhere, in every room, in every conversation.

Me: Darn. This is getting deep.

Elephant: It is deep my friend, but this is life.

Me: Will it change.  

Elephant: It always does.

Me: Change is the only constant.

Elephant: Change is the only constant.

 

Everything changes and nothing stands still

Heraclitus of Ephesus, 535 BC – 475 BC

 

POSTNOTE:

I shared this partly because Saturday 10th October 2020 is World Mental Health Day. Stay well.