The Hidden Cost Of The Pandemic
There’s a hidden cost in this pandemic
No, I am not talking about hospital expenses due to the virus
And it’s not just the taxes state leaders use… or sometimes misuse
The hidden cost that I am pertaining to is not something that can be accounted for
It’s not the cost of unemployment, business closures, or the changing of plans we’ve made before 2020
It’s not the cost of debts or loans as high as billions of pesos
It’s not the overpriced face shields or vaccines, it’s like we’re operating at a loss
Those are quite obvious
Government’s dead giveaways
It’s not the price of the shipping fees for our never-ending purchases
It’s not the extra money we spend… from online classes to online funeral services
Those are quite common but they’re not it
Hey, I don’t suggest they mean any less
But depressing as it is, they’re not the hidden cost of this health crisis
It’s something you cannot see in plain sight, not tallied on paper, on a list
You can’t calculate this for the numbers to be right, no printed receipts
And regardless of the social classes we are categorized in
This hidden cost is universalized, everybody is experiencing
I took up economics in college, and I managed to memorize some of its jargons
Don’t worry I won’t bombard you with graphs or econometric equations
And perhaps you’d assume that my key takeaway from that course is the law of supply and demand
It’s not — the most important lesson I got is the “opportunities that are no longer at hand”
Wait, what?
Yes, what’s unaccounted for in this pandemic is what’s called the opportunity cost
By definition, it’s the value or benefit that is permanently lost
Because once you chose Option A over Option B
You cannot enjoy the benefits of the two choices simultaneously
For example, buy an iPhone and the opportunity cost is not being able to order your favorite expensive foods for the next 3 months
Spend night YOLOing and clubbing instead of studying and it will definitely cost you failing marks for tomorrow’s exams
Or pursue a career that brings money, let go of your art, choose STEM over HUMSS
And hey I’m not here to judge what’s good or bad
This is value-neutral
But opportunity costs they will always come
That’s economics 101
So think hard of what you had to let go because you are stuck at home
Trendy apparels, travels and bottles of beer with friends
Parties and festivities, every big social event
Birthdays, weddings, baptisms underwent postponement
Those are the answers you’d easily come up with…but you need to think harder
Maybe we are losing something even more
Because if there’s an opportunity cost in both asset and time
Then what if the asset is this aging body of mine
And time here…is the irreversible blip in the timeline aka the lockdown period of my life
There is fear of missing out not because I can no longer do them post-COVID-19
But there’s no replicating these days in ways my pre-2020 self could’ve been doing
So imagine:
First day of school, a mixture of anxiety and thrill, making friends to the kid you’re sitting with
But it gets replaced with laptops, headphones, Zoom and other online tools you need
Or your class is on the last school year, making moments count for the big graduation event
But your last moments together is when you do Google hangouts
Or host a movie night out but it’s only streaming
Or toast or raise a glass somehow but in front of your screen
We can’t even do cheers right
Now, you see there will be no other first day high or graduation hugs and goodbyes in your life
So realize:
How pandemic babies and toddlers familiarize themselves with the world
And their world is strictly defined by being confined in their household
And the only people in their world is mama and papa and mama and papa or grandma or grandpa and speaking of grandma
Can you call the ambulance
Or check social media
Check the hospitals in the area…
Or check the ones in the entire Metro Manila
…
Now, I know life does not mean any less if there’s a delay
We can always do and say these things the next day when the virus has already faded away
But if childhood already happened yesterday
Or tomorrow’s precious golden years and senior moments of our parents are not guaranteed
Then you know the opportunity cost is high…living life quarantined
My youth is wasted stuck at home
Special first time moments with friends but no decent photos will ever show
I could’ve been enjoying my 20s, going out on dates, but I have to hesitate
I could’ve started a project or a business, flying to different places
Doing more in my prime years, one of life’s crucial phases
But no, those are the scenarios I had to let go
When I am forced to just watch Netflix, max out my privileges, check out these items because I want to feel good
That’s how I overcompensate for this debilitating mood…
This order of life has been rattled
Every month there’s a plot twist
And hey I have long accepted this
I’m not angry at the “pandemic” per se, that’s not what I meant
But the hidden cost of this is made worse by the inefficient management of our COVID-19 predicament
The government is robbing us in so many ways
Of resources — not just taxes — but something we can’t replenish
Because if we’re talking about the time that is human life
You don’t really get to do the exact same things twice
Your body has changed, your every single cell has aged
And sure stress, mental health crises surely has contributed
To our soul getting older, losing ourselves more, for every quarantine day added
I did not sign up for the longest lockdown on Earth
I did not choose to be a witness of how clowns fuck up their work
Maybe things shouldn’t be this worse…in an alternate universe
If a female leader or scientists or front liners are making sure that the country is on course
The most expensive thing in this pandemic cannot be seen on tax records or banks or purse
It’s the opportunity cost of not being able to freely use your time’s worth
This write-up has a spoken word version which adds value to the text by giving people an audio experience.
Andrew Beso is a Manila-based content creator who is exploring different ways of sharing art — whether it be written, spoken, and visualized. His work, aside from being in Medium, can also be seen on Youtube, Instagram, and Tiktok. All his creative expressions use varying styles, lenses, and mediums of storytelling.
This article is published by Pluma Manila, a Creative Platform for Everything Filipino. If you’re Filipino or Pinoy at heart, Be part of our team and share your craft with us. Maraming Salamat!
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