Let’s Move Forward
Covid-19 became real for me on March 13th. That is the day that I shut down my office and sent my people home. That was six months ago. What a long and challenging six months it has been.
We have learned a great deal in the last six months. Our health care professionals have gained great knowledge about this virus works and how to combat it. We have done incredible work in record time to develop not one but possibly three different vaccines that hold the hope of ending this crisis. We have seen countless stories of essential workers putting themselves at significant risk to keep the rest of us healthy and supplied. We have witnessed heartache as millions of people have lost their jobs. We have seen small businesses close, never to open again. We have seen almost 200,000 people in this country die from this virus. Nearly 600 of those were health care professionals working hard to try and treat those who had contracted the virus.
We have also seen a great divide in this country as some people seem determined to argue along mostly political lines about things that either shouldn’t be debatable or have no bearing on where we go from here. I will point some fingers now and fully admit that I am guilty of some of the very things I am calling out.
Right now, six months into this crisis, anyone arguing over the value of wearing a mask or if this was a plot by China or if the fatality count is overstated should just stop. All those people arguing over who said what in January or February, just stop. Anyone suggesting that there is some deep state conspiracy here by either political party, just stop. Stop it right now. There are 200,000 Americans that would love to tell you why you should stop this nonsense, but they can’t.
Ok, let’s get this out once and for all. This sucks! No way around it. It sucks for everyone involved. I have told my kids that this is likely the worst thing they will ever experience. Think about this, on 9/11; we lost about 3,000 American’s. That was a very dark day and one we should never forget. Over the last six months, we lost an average of 1,000 American’s every day. That’s like having a 9/11 every three days for six months. I know this isn’t good. Everyone knows it’s terrible, and I am just as guilty as everyone else of wanting to find someone or something to blame. I want a bad guy in all of this—someone I can hate and punish. The problem is, there is no bad guy. There is no villain dressed in black for us to despise. The other problem with wanting someone to blame is it doesn’t help us move forward.
Now, I know that people will base their vote in November on what they think their Governor did or didn’t do. I know people will consider the President’s response to COVID when they cast their ballot in November. That’s great. Please do. I know I’m going to.
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t look back on how elected officials handled this crisis as part of your election decision making. You should do that. What I am saying is the arguments over silly things that aren’t going to change or help us get out of this mess are not only pointless but just widen the divide in this country. Let’s all do what we did after 9/11. Let’s pull together and find our way out of this dark time. Let’s work on how to get our kids back in school safely. Let’s work on opening the economy fully without increasing the number of people who will get this virus and die from it. Let’s root for a vaccine. Let’s become American’s again.
Thank you.
Take a listen to our latest podcast. Streaming now on Soundcloud and Apple Podcasts!