If a picture is worth a thousand words, then why do we talk so much?
A brief reflection on the need for Visual Thinking.
While in the car today, I listened to the governor of Oregon explain the need to impose pandemic restrictions on restaurants and other businesses that classify as “indoor gatherings.” She rattled off the familiar litany of social distancing, asymptomatic spreaders, hospitals nearing capacity and protecting the elderly and people with pre-existing conditions.
Blah blah blah.
Not that those aren’t legitimate issues, but people are tired. Not only of the isolation and social restrictions, but there’s mental fatigue from the pandemic lexicon and endless political vitriol.
As I listened to her well-intentioned but toothless droning, it struck me that most of the effort in battling the coronavirus is too far downstream, like a dam, trying to hold back the virus or manage the infections at the point of outbreak. (Much like we’ve mismanaged the opioid epidemic.)
What we really need is to fight this thing further upstream.
That means keeping a safe distance from others. Wearing a mask. Minimizing public spaces by taking advantage of e-commerce and delivery. Using phone and video instead of meeting face-to-face.
This is how we need to rethink about these familiar things we all can do to keep Covid19 from turning from a stream into a flood. It means being smart. Doing things to prevent contracting or spreading the virus. Which is much easier than dealing with an infection.
This is not a difficult concept to grasp. But people need mental paradigms for things to click. Paradigms that can be visualized mentally. Not words.
So give us a picture. A thought that helps us mentally organize information.
Upstream versus downstream. Impact the flow instead of erecting a dam. A dam that is already showing cracks.
. . . . .
People who have the mic need to do a better job communicating. Those of us who are in the business of communicating need to help. I’m ready, willing and able… brian@bemeaningful.co
