[W Forum] Reflections on COVID-19

Scene #1. I grab my mask and leave the house. I measure my temperature in the company lobby and carefully wash my hands with the sanitizer provided before getting on the elevator. I enter an empty office. Employees’ start time has been adjusted to 10 a.m., and one-third of them are working from home on a rotating basis. After finishing a video conference connected to an overseas site, I receive a report via video call from an employee working remotely. Even meetings with colleagues in the same building are held via video rather than face-to-face. At lunchtime, the cafeteria, now operating in four shifts and much quieter, feels like a theater as we sit in a row, keeping distance from each other while eating. It has been over a month since we stopped company dinners, and all overseas business trips scheduled for March and April have been canceled. This is my daily life changed by COVID-19.

Scene #2. COVID-19 has also struck the construction company where I work, shaking this year’s plans. Production of equipment has halted in China, Europe, and other places, sounding alarms on procurement. Entry bans, curfews, and movement restrictions imposed in Middle Eastern and Asian countries are disrupting site operations. Overseas sites mostly expect delays in construction periods to varying degrees, and in countries where banks have ceased operations, payments due are not being received on time. Some projects scheduled for this year have been canceled due to the plummeting oil prices. It feels like entering a dark tunnel.

Scene #3. On my way home, I called my mother living in New Zealand to check on her, and she told me about nationwide restrictions there. For the next month, all businesses except pharmacies and supermarkets must close, and the entire population is prohibited from going out except for special cases. The vague hope that this will pass soon has disappeared, replaced by fear about when the rapidly spreading COVID-19 pandemic worldwide will end. I sigh deeply, thinking it will take a considerable time for the wounds to heal even after COVID-19 passes.

Both nations and individuals face crises in life. From my long life experience, I have learned that what you think and how you live during a crisis can greatly affect the outcome after it passes. Personally, I have faced several crises in my life, and at those times, I was trapped in darkness and had no strength to even think about the future. When I opened my eyes in the morning, the day ahead felt unbearably heavy, and I started my day with tears. What helped me endure those days that began with despair were my sons. When unimaginable events swept away everything I had like a storm, I endured day by day with my sons and precious people by my side. And as I lived day by day, I found myself at the end of the dark tunnel. Crises always pass, and those who endure them well gain the fruit called “resilience.” Only those who have endured harsh crises do not fear the next one and instead shine like stars within the crisis. Our Republic of Korea, having endured the pains of colonization, war, and division, already has the DNA of “resilience.”

Once, during an overseas business trip near an airport, I saw a large billboard featuring a photo of a track athlete with a prosthetic leg. The billboard read, “Focus on what you have now rather than what you have lost.” COVID-19 has come like a storm, shaking our peaceful daily lives, future plans, and economic order, but we still have far more than we have lost. If we hold hands with our precious family and colleagues who care about each other’s well-being and endure together, COVID-19 will pass, and the wounds will heal.

Spring light is fully shining on this land that had been shrinking back due to COVID-19. Cherry blossoms have bloomed in the apartment courtyard that I never paid attention to in my busy daily life. Hoping that warm spring flowers will also bloom in our hearts, which have shrunk in fear, I put on my mask and go out for a spring walk.

Hyun Kyung Lee, Executive Director, SK Engineering & Construction