The Enemy

Uman jaon baja frontline? One of the words you always overhear is the word front-liner. This can sometimes be confused by others as anybody who “volunteers” to do something which is purely falling on the act of volunteering.

According to the Merriam-Webster, a frontline is a military line formed by the most advanced tactical combat units. It is also an area of potential or actual conflict or struggle. In a battle, the best combatants are placed on the frontlines so for an area not to be invaded. These people are not just anybody who can stand like a prop but people who are equipped with knowledge, skills and the right behavior to defeat the enemy.

Who is the enemy? This idea is constantly applied by good managers through the concepts presented by Sun Tzu in his book “The Art of War”. The book suggests that if you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.

Basically, our enemy here is the virus threatening the lives of many once it spreads. People, out of their profession and expertise, are placed on the frontlines to combat the spread and save the lives of the infected. The medical practitioners are placed on the hospitals so for them to contain the virus and heal those who are sick.

Anybody can be a carrier of the virus. So, the people are being ordered to stay at their homes and practice social distancing. ANOTHER TYPE OF ENEMY HAS EMERGED: the people themselves. The policemen and other local officials started to become the front-liners to combat the indifference and undisciplined actions of the people. They are not following orders and continue to go on with their lives.

Yet, there are those whose reasons are valid for them to survive – they are hungry.

Since the community quarantine prohibits people to go out, there are establishments which closed and the “No Work No Pay” people started getting uneasy. They have to go out and look for a living. The government has ordered the local governments and the concerned departments to give ration and amelioration amount for the poor and the middle class to get by. The local officials, social workers and people from the labor department started to become the front-liners of the enemy called HUNGER. The private sector is also helping them kill the enemy by having fund-raising campaigns to help those who are in need.

The store owners, the market vendors and even the drivers of the delivery trucks of food so with the store personnel started to become the suppressors of the HUNGER enemy. These include the farmers and the fisher folks and those who cook food and deliver them in our doorsteps.

The people in check points are also doing their best NOT to allow the enemy to enter our places and eradicate the majority whose dreams, aspirations and hope must continue to thrive.

Leaders and all of us must understand how to defeat the enemy. A deeper understanding of WHAT and WHO is the enemy must be considered. Sometimes, we might become the enemy ourselves if our psychological deficits and unmet needs surface. If we will become the persons to create chaos than pacifying things, we must be restrained than thrive like the virus.

Strategic identification of the frontlines must also be considered. Why is it that food overflows on hospitals and checkpoints when there are areas infested with hunger? While the virus is held outside, our medical team the police, and other officials are doing their regular duties, right? We do not discount their courage to be there but there are others who are experiencing lack of food on the margins.

The private individuals volunteering to gather resources must also understand the strategic delivery of them to restrain the CORRECT enemy.

If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle. Chang Yu said: "Knowing the enemy enables you to take the offensive, knowing yourself enables you to stand on the defensive." He adds: "Attack is the secret of defense; defense is the planning of an attack."

Yes, it is high time to know if we have become the combatants, the front-liners of this pandemic or we have become the enemy.