No plan of operations extends with certainty beyond the first encounter with the enemy’s main strength,” so said the 19th-century Prussian military commander Helmuth von Moltke the Elder.
For some, they will recognise a variation of this saying, reconfigured popularly to: “No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy”.
One hundred and thirty years after his death, the quote by von Moltke may not only describe the journey of fresh graduates today, but perhaps also what the country has gone through in its fight against Covid-19.
As recently as May this year, Singapore seemed to be on the verge of returning to its pre-pandemic state, after the virus wreaked havoc among foreign worker dormitories and forced the country into its “circuit breaker” in 2020.
Gatherings of eight were allowed, F&B outlets were open, weddings and MICE events were expanding their capacity, and workers were also allowed in office, albeit with a limited capacity. In short, the domestic economy seemed on the road to recovery and economists were cheerily upgrading their forecasts for the year.
There was even talk that if vaccinations progress well, there could be travel bubbles established with certain countries and cities with a similar risk profile, promising quarantine-free travel between the regions in the bubble.
Then, on May 16, the bubble burst, both literally and figuratively. A new variant of the virus, the so-called Delta variant, reared its ugly head in the community, and Singapore was forced to move to its so-called Phase Two (Heightened Alert), which banned dining in at F&B outlets, reduced the social gathering limit to two, and virtually threw the country back to measures not seen since Phase One in June 2020.
Even when a plan was plotted to navigate the country out of Phase Two (Heightened Alert), Singapore found itself back in tightened measures after new clusters broke out at various KTV outlets, supposedly originating from the Jurong Fishery Port. Plans to reopen were then delayed further to Aug 18 at the time of writing. For many of us, the startstop, start-stop guidance has imbued a sense of weariness.
Scuppered plans
In a way, I can relate to von Moltke. With my masters in strategic studies, coupled with a prior three-year stint as a current affairs and sports journalist, I was planning for a career in the realm of foreign affairs or counter-terrorism, relishing the chance to travel overseas and explore something different from the newsroom.
But sometimes, life takes unexpected turns, and if you listen to Forrest Gump, you never know what you are going to get. So, there I was, joining The Edge Singapore, a business and investment publication, at the height of the pandemic, having interviewed for this job over a video call instead of a face-to-face session that graduates are prepared for.
See more: Working-from-home is all fresh grads know of the world
To say that this was simply a different work experience was an understatement. Instead of travelling, I found myself working from home. Instead of poring over policies and dictums, I found myself juggling numbers, charts, financial and business concepts as well as the intricacies of the stock market, while trying to discern what is newsworthy and relevant from what is said by the newsmakers. The learning curve is steep, but the satisfaction is deep as well. I believe I have managed to get a good grip on how this new world functions.
I am certainly not alone. When the Class of 2020 graduated last year amid the uncertainties of employment, most of us took on roles and jobs that we may not have thought of; we had our plans, but when they do not pan out because of reasons out of anyone’s control, we adapt accordingly.
Pardon the over-used word, but our generation is facing “unprecedented” pressures. We are thrown into the world, only to face more uncertainty than before. Yet, I find my peers soldiering on, exploring new opportunities, learning new skillsand adapting to this “new normal”. While of course, there are always some bad apples, I daresay the oft-quoted and dismissive label of “strawberry generation” does not apply to many of my peers. As Singapore celebrates her 56th birthday, the feeling is even more palpable.
While many lives and livelihoods have been upended by the pandemic, I am confident that the “Covid graduates” will be able to not only survive, but thrive in this new normal, by drawing on the same resourcefulness that we have shown in adapting to this pandemic.
As Singapore Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratam said in 2020, it is about the compact of self-effort and selflessness that we must strengthen in our culture, as well as the networks and initiatives that have sprung up in this Covid-19 crisis. This generation, along with those before and after, have come up with various ways to cope with this pandemic, and while not getting it perfect all the time, does try to be the best at this point in time.
“It is about the interest we take in each other... about respecting every individual regardless of their job, and respecting their effort to overcome setbacks and make the best they can of life. It is [also] about how we draw closer to each other, regardless of race, religion or social background,” Tharman said.
