Last night, Becky and I watched episode four, season 1 of The Crown on Netflix as we honor the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. During the episode, a blanket of fog covers the streets of London, overwhelming hospital beds with residents gasping for air. Prime Minister Winston Churchill is under immense pressure to โdo something,โ but he holds firm with his belief that the fog is an act of nature, and an act of God, and that it will lift.
When Churchillโs young secretary is fatally struck by a bus, he arrives at a busy hospital where someone yells at him to โput on a mask!โ Fittingly, he responds that masks donโt work theyโre just a symbol that the government is doing something. Sound familiar?
Thereโre those nasty two words, โdoing something.โ Those words in relation to Covid seem to have clouded our lives for what feels like forever. Even Joe Biden now believes itโs over. But when thereโs no emergency, โdoing somethingโ is much harder to โdo.โ So America remains in a state of emergency.
The most powerful scene (see below) is when The Queen is advised by her bedridden grandmother Queen Mary: โTo do nothing is the hardest job of all.โ
While Churchill waits for his meeting with the queen, she sits alone for what seems like hours gazing through the window at the hazy air, not sure what to do. When she finally summons him, it appears sheโs ready to order him to โdo something,โ just as a beam of sunlight comes through the window.
Action Line: Itโs human nature to want to act. But acting often worsens the problem, which can be especially true for your investments. Acting may help you feel better: perhaps by selling until you can sleep. But that just presents you with a new problem of figuring out when to get back in. As the late great Jack Bogle said: โDonโt just do something, stand there.โ Wise words indeed. โGod Save the Queen.โ
Originally posted on Your Survival Guy.ย
