COVID-19: Silver Linings?

[justme]

i agree, mike.

[JohnHurt]

If you have a home business, you won't have to compete with cheap Chinese products this year, and maybe longer.

If you have an internet based business, you won't have to compete with brick and mortar businesses this year, and longer.

The best supply chains for providing the materials for making your products will be found inside the USA, perhaps inside your own state. After 2020, it will be a different and "more local" economy. COVID-19 may just kill Globalism. I hope so.

You will be able to go to college online and not have to park and walk to class, and online college classes should be much cheaper. College is overpriced and they hand out worthless degrees, so this might help the problem.

Everyone will be interested in homeschooling their children. Free public education is the 10th plank of the Communist Manifesto, and we need an alternative education system that includes homeschooling and Christian private schools that will use the tax money that is now wasted on public education. School vouchers and school choice may really result out of all of this.

Christians will want to stay home and do their own home Bible studies, and not rely on someone else to teach their children in a church with a lot of people. Christian fellowship will be more online. People may start reading their Bibles instead of having someone else explain it to them. We may see more people reading and following the Words of Christ instead of church dogmas.

Everyone will be interested in prepping, storing food, planting a garden, and having an N95 mask. If you have a business supplying items in these areas, you will do well.

Herbal medicine and essential oils will have a big uptick, as most people would not dare to go into a doctor's office.

If your boss would not let you work from home, he will now, if possible. There will be less traffic going to work.

Everyone that works from home may want to live "a little further from the city" after 2020. If you have rural land, you are doing well.

The World may see that "being rich" won't save you. Many may come back to the study of God's Word.

I do hope something good comes out of all of this.

[MaxPC]

Fantastic thread, RZehr.

Silver linings:
1. A number of my former colleagues have related that their respective universities have switched to online learning to finish out the year. They like it better. The only classes that don’t translate well to online are the science labs.

2. As Wade, et al noted, there is more time for family time thanks to less time sitting in traffic. Online commuting has helped. There is less traffic on the roads resulting in less wear and tear on the roads and vehicles; less pollution as well.

3. The “remain in place” and travel restrictions are refocusing people on what they need vs what they want.

4. We are thinking of ways to keep this new focus going in the long term. Christians have been praying for the world to convert its collective heart back to God. I think this pandemic is part of the answer to that prayer. It is easier to hear the Gospel message if one is not distracted. All of a sudden many distractions have disappeared. We have the opportunity to speak... NOW. Through actions that accompany our words.

[Josh]

Jesus went to the big cities like Jerusalem. The disciples shared the good news in the cities like Joppa.

If a plague continues to rage, I hope some of us will be a salt and light in the cities where so many precious souls live.

[HondurasKeiser]

I get to spend all day with my wife and 7-month old son. We wish it were under different circumstances but are thankful for this time together.

[RZehr]

For me personally, the timing could have been so much worse.
I’m thankful we aren’t having a baby right now.
I’m thankful we aren’t getting married or have any wedding or funerals planned to attend.
I’m thankful we don’t have any essential travel plans right now.
I’m thankful we have no dentist needs done right now.
I’m thankful that after working two years on building, we moved into our house in December. I’m so glad we aren’t in the middle of this project right now from both a financial and workload standpoint.
I’m thankful the end of school is near, and this didn’t happen in the middle of the school year.
I’m thankful this happened in the spring where people can be outside, instead of winter when there is more cold weather and flue and other sicknesses around.
I’m thankful it is happening when our company’s busy season is close to slowing down instead of in the middle of our busiest time. And that our I.T. department is setting me up to work at home.
I’m thankful we are in an “essential” industry and can keep working, at least a little bit.
I’m thankful that we are getting assistance from a teacher in trying to homeschool the rest of the year.
I’m thankful to live across the road from an emergency room doctor who is willing to come to my house if needed.
I’m thankful that my vehicles are in working order.
I’m thankful to have food and water and toilet paper.

[Wade]

My neighbour who is a new Christian said to me last night that this has been great.
They aren't driving all over all the time with children events and classes.
They aren't spending money.
They aren't eating out all the time.
They are spending quality time together as a family.
He is excited out being productive around home and garden.
And he shared how yesterday he was helping his youngest learn to read and how much he loved that time.

[Wade]

Hearing my 13 year old son excitedly say, "Dad, if you had the summer off that would be great!"

[Signtist]

It taught us that many things can be fast tracked. Red tape isn't impenetrable.

[DarkShallNotPrevail]

Having my husband work from home, and being able to walk out to his office in the outbuilding with our daughter to see her daddy <3 She gets sooooo excited!

How close this has drawn my siblings and I- we text every day now and it's really nice to hear from them so often.