Triskaidekaphobia is the fear of the number 13. Last Friday was the 13th Nov 2020. For the superstitious among you it would perhaps have been a day that you avoided doing certain things just in case your luck ran out. However, it was also World Kindness Day. It seems to me that the world is crying out for some kindness. Despite observing Remembrance Day last week, there are still many wars going on across the world. Children continue to go hungry, and many remain at risk of abuse in all its forms. The planet is heating up and the icebergs are melting. We are far from making kindness the norm, more of which later.
In 1932, the American playwright Wilson Mizner
famously told an up and coming film star ‘be kind to everyone on the way up;
you’ll meet the same people on the way down’. It was good advice then and it’s
good advice now. Unless you were spending lockdown in a darkened room with no
TV, radio or mobile phone, it won’t have escaped your notice that two very high
profile people might have been better served by taking this advice.
On one side of the Atlantic
Ocean, we have witnessed the childlike tantrums of Trump as he lost the 2020 US
elections. The papers have been full of insider stories of the sheer
vindictiveness of his approach to anyone who didn’t agree with him as
President. There was also much speculation as to what he might face in terms of
legal battles once he loses the protection of the presidential office. On the
other side of the Atlantic Ocean we have Cummings, who last week finally got
kicked out of 10 Downing Street. He allegedly shares many of the same attributes
and behaviours as Trump in his approach to those he worked with or came in
contact with.
Both these men have directly or
indirectly been responsible for many highly knowledgeable, skilled and
experienced people losing their jobs, and perhaps more importantly, their
standing in society. And that is before one considers the catastrophic handling
of the pandemic on both side of the Atlantic Ocean, for which both men have a
great deal of responsibility. Trump’s presidency has done untold damage to the
rule of law and democracy. Likewise, in the UK, Cummings’ ‘eye test drive’ to
Barnard Castle during the first lockdown severely damaged the trust people had
in the Government and its ask of the British people in managing the pandemic.
Personally, I won’t be sad to see either man leave the public stage.
Their arrogant behaviour was
hugely contrasted by the humility shown by Ozlem Tureci
and Ugur Sahin last Monday when the news broke of
their work in producing a possible Covid-19 vaccine. Both came from fairly
humble backgrounds. They went on to become doctors and they met whilst both
working for an oncology service in Homburg. Their shared interest in getting
the body’s immune system to fight against cancer and other diseases led them to
develop the approach that has been so successful in developing many flu
vaccines and ultimately was the same medical technology that led to the
development of the potential Covid-19 vaccine announced last week. Called mRNA,
you can read about how this technology has developed over the past 10 years
here.
Science and the discoveries it
can bring are clearly of primary importance in both their lives. For example,
when they got married, they took just half a day off work to do so. And it was Sahin’s
vigilance, knowledge and analytical abilities that gave them an early start on
the development of the vaccine. On Jan 24th he read a scientific
paper that describe the seriousness of the coronavirus and the possibility of
an asymptomatic spread. When he looked up Wuhan on Google, he realised the
potential for a global pandemic and started to work on developing a possible
vaccine. Four weeks later the coronavirus had arrived in Europe, by which time
they had already produced 20 possible vaccines. This was subsequently reduced
to four, one of which proved particularly effective in trials. Whilst the
couple founded their own company in 2008 and had the scientific ability to
develop a possible vaccine, they didn’t have the resources to conduct the
necessary clinical trials or produce and distribute any successful vaccine. As
they had previously worked with the German pharmaceutical giant Pfizer in
developing flu vaccines, a partnership was agreed to work together once more. Despite
the assertion by Trump that he and the Americans developed the possible Pfizer vaccine,
the US had nothing whatsoever to do with its development. As Trump might bemoan,
it was ‘fake news’.
Whilst there is still a long way
to go before a vaccine becomes readily available, the one announced last week
looks very promising. Tureci and Sahin are an enchanting couple. They
apparently celebrated the news of the vaccine’s breakthrough by quietly enjoy a
cup of Turkish tea at home. Despite being in the top 100 of Germany richest
people, they live modestly. They don’t own a car and Sahin cycles to work every
day. They both have enthusiasm, knowledge, kindness oozing from every pore and
are passionate in their desire to help their fellow man. I for one think the
world needs fewer people like Trump and Cummings and many more like Tureci and Sahin,
if the world is to become a better and kinder place.
I think the last word has to go
to Scott Adams. He is the creator of Dilbert, the comic character of the same
name. It is based upon what Adams describes as the Dilbert Principle. This Principle
states that organisations tend to promote incompetent people to management positions
to remove them from the front line workforce (think W1A) in order to limit the
damage they might do. Possibly the exception that proves the rule are Trump and
Cummings; both incompetent but actually engendering untold damage. Why the last
word? Well Adams also famously said: ‘Remember there’s no such thing as a small
act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple effect with no logical end’ – in
other words, kindness matters and flows outwards exponentially, so let’s all strive
to make kindness the norm.
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