Living in interesting times

I understand this might not be a popular take on a pandemic that has killed, and will continue to kill, thousands of people.

But here goes.

The changes that come out of the current pandemic will likely keep economists and other academics busy for years. The intricacies of how bigger businesses will have to change and pivot — the quantum change of, realistically, the collapse of a measurable percentage of small business, followed by their subsequent replacement. The change that may see an acceptance of increased product prices in exchange for shorter supply lines and more dependable, more local production.

A whole host of (mostly unpredictable right now) things will happen, and a veritable blizzard of academic work will result.

And for some people, it might lead to better, healthier, more fulfilling lives.

Walking near Quidi Vidi on Wednesday, I got to overhear a snatch of conversation — something that’s so much easier to do thanks to physical distancing. A man straddling a bicycle was saying that he hardly ever rode his bike before the arrival of pandemic restrictions. Since then, he’d ridden every day — and can’t ever see going back. He was talking to two people with a basketball, who were making pretty much the same argument — that their day is better when they get to build its structure.

There’s already been plenty about the macro changes — the fact that reductions in vehicle use have meant declines in accidents and clearer skies, thanks to reduced exhaust.

That Big Oil is just as much subject to declining demand as any industry.

That businesses see opportunities to change — especially opportunities that make money — and take them.

Open Text, one of Canada’s largest software firms, announced on Thursday that it plans to close nearly half of its offices, meaning a substantial share of its 15,000 employees — now working from home because of the pandemic — will stay there. Not, by the way, for quality of life reasons as much as for quality of profit reasons. Open Text expects to save between US$65 million and US$75 million in rent.

On the one hand, good news for Open Text shareholders, and perhaps a model that other companies will be quick to follow. Not so good news for commercial realty owners that depend on rent for their profits — and a very real change for the Open Text employees who may never be going back to an office or a fully structured workplace. But the micro changes? People talk a lot about lifestyle changes all the time — but rarely actually have the time to take advantage of them. People like to talk about “what really matters in life,” but do it as a sort of parlour game — you get a break from your daily life by dreaming out loud about what might be, if only …

It’s one thing to talk about taking up parachuting. It’s another to get kicked out of an airplane.

(Keep in mind, I’m talking about the parts of the Western World that actually have the ability, and wealth, to consider lifestyle change. Many places do not, and there, if people manage to survive the economic fallout of lockdowns, a return to the sheer daily struggle of survival awaits.)

It might all, in the end, fail to truly change anything — after all, we’re creatures of habit, and we may slip back into our old roles and patterns quickly.

After rolling a rock up the hill all week long for eight hours a day in an office, we may be fine with coming back on Monday finding the rock right back at the bottom of the hill.

I’m not sure it’s going to work that way.

I am sure the economists are going to have a field day, regardless. Russell Wangersky’s column appears in Saltwire newspapers and websites across Atlantic Canada. He can be reached at russell.wangersky@ thetelegram.com — Twitter: @ wangersky.