What Switch Will Be Turned Off Next?

A very smart person has tried over the years to teach me the art of making analogies.

In analogy form, here’s the best way I can explain how the world feels right now: It feels like each day we are turning off one circuit breaker switch in the house until the house eventually goes completely dark. After that, we will slowly turn on one breaker at a time until the house is fully functioning again.

If I were Seth Godin, that would be the end of my column. Man, I hope at least two of you get that joke.

I am not Seth Godin, so here we go.

The COVID-19 issue has unfortunately consumed us as a credit union industry, as an editorial staff, as community leaders, as families and as simply people living in this world. For several weeks we were keeping an eye on this issue and I even gave our reporters instructions that we are not going to sensationalize the coronavirus or report on any “What-if” pieces that play into the unknown facts of things. This rule still holds true for us and as we’ve progressed, like you and your teams, we’ve grown more and more concerned and are watching our lives slowly, and sometimes quickly, become disrupted.

As I write this in the off-hours from work, I’ve had two off-the-record conversations with credit union leaders who have explained that their executive teams are having emergency meetings in the next hour. Also, as I’m writing, like many of you have already experienced, I received a text from my son’s school district: ALL MMSD SCHOOLS NOW CLOSED. EMAIL TO FOLLOW.

Did they need to text it in all caps?

As you have been seeing and possibly feeling, things can feel and seem very different within days and many times, within hours. We are all on this rollercoaster together, and the main difference appears to be how we are individually handling it. I still haven’t figured out why people are hoarding toilet paper and how that’s going to help anything except screw over other people in your community.

There is a psychology to how we as individuals and as a community are handling this. Many psychological experts say the rush behind (intentional pun) buying up all of the toilet paper and bottled water comes down to people needing to feel some levels of control of the situation. The other factor, according to experts, is a fear of scarcity – if they are doing it, I better do it too!

We’re watching the stock markets do their version of buying up all of the toilet paper and then selling it and buying it back again. The panic about the coronavirus isn’t helping us in any way.

This is probably what you, your team and your members are also working through.

Our editorial staff live in Maryland, Virginia, South Carolina, Ohio, Texas, New Mexico and Oregon. Like you, we are all witnessing and living very different experiences so far – some in worse situations than others. Our team calls are a little therapeutic for us and it allows us to check in, and see how everyone is doing and how we’re feeling.

We have credit unions headquartered in one state that might not be impacted yet, but its call center might be in another state that is under a state of emergency. This story is all over the place for each individual credit union and how much or how little COVID-19 has come into play for future plans.

But, after the official National Emergency declaration by President Trump, we’ve noticed a very quick and significant uptick in emergency planning that’s happening with credit union executive teams in every time zone and every region of our country.

In the past 24 hours there has also been a strange post-9/11 element that has been the topic in several cities, like Chicago and Nashville. People were deciding to continue to hold huge parties to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day or attending concerts with the message #NashvilleStrong or something of the sort.

This isn’t about showing some terrorist group that we will not be defeated, or some big presentation of “screw you” to the system. This isn’t a made up idea or theory like the earth is flat or that Harry and the Hendersons was a documentary. It’s a truth of science and human biology that we must understand. It’s not political. It’s only that decisions are being made by politicians, and some decision-makers are or aren’t able to turn off the political fallout way of thinking.

If you’re of a younger age, it’s not about that you won’t get sick, or if you do, you’ll be fine. It’s about if you become infected and infect others who could be more susceptible of dying from COVID-19. This is about thinking of the community at large and the positive or negative impact that you could make.

What do we do about it? We take care of and think of the other person or persons in our lives and how we behave and exist might impact them. Basically, it’s how we should be all the time.

Throughout the days ahead, you’ll be reading about credit unions closing, more credit union employees working remotely, credit unions serving members only through the drive-thru and some bold moves by credit unions offering special emergency loans and help for their communities.

We’ve tried it a few times in meetings, but looking beyond only a few days has proven too difficult. Anything beyond that seems too risky to even predict.

As with the Great Recession, 9/11 and disasters like Hurricane Sandy, credit unions have a duty to help each of their communities. The added layer of problems with the coronavirus is that it’s like a hurricane that might not end for weeks, months or longer. We just don’t know. With schools closing, there is an immediate need in so many areas to help feed children and families who rely on schools as their main source of nutrition. The number of layoffs around the country is climbing rapidly. Some small businesses are being shut down or restricted as to how many people can be in a restaurant at the same time, for instance. There are very broad and very specific emergency needs probably already waiting for your help in each of your communities. If you’re going to the grocery store, ask your elderly neighbor if they need anything. If you have food banks that you can support, do that too. If you have ways to help keep your community connected, find those and see if your credit union can step in. Many of us and our families are going to be at home, in duplexes, in condos and in apartments working, living and learning from home. What can credit unions do to help? We are all going to have to get creative to find answers.

We wish the best for you, your teams and your members as we discover together what switches will be turned off next and when we can turn this thing around.

Michael Ogden is editor-in-chief for CU Times. He can be reached at mogden@cutimes.com.