With the focus of everyone on the latest with the Coronavirus, we have avoided adding any noise to your day. We’ll continue down the same path with an occasional check in and blog.
We want to start with a wish and hope first. That is that you and yours are well and coping with the challenges of the time. In the end that is the most important thing.
We have been impressed with the Presidential Task Force and their ability to look at the market and data, telling us what is ahead.
We know the month ahead will be a challenge, but believe that by mid May there is promise for a beginning return to normal.
That may seem like a long way away, but in the realm of life it is not. The question is how quickly we can get the economy humming again.
At the conclusion of this generational test I know America will rise to the occasion. How do I know that? Look at how our creative minds are reacting now. From an unknown virus challenge, we see daily how America works.
We needed testing, and from a primitive means (a stick up your nose that turned toward you eye), to a swab, to later this week an immediate swab test.
Think about the progress we made in that area and how quickly.
Think about how we figured out how to create new, and then reuse, masks. How gowns became available from shortages to now availability.
Look at how we understanding a ventilator can handle more than a single patient, and how other machines can be used as ventilators as companies gear up to make new ones.
Now ask yourself this.
The virus was in China for months, then South Korea, Italy and other places before the U.S. All great countries with major manufacturing ability, yet these innovations came from America when the virus got here.
That’s America and why we are who we are.
I’ve been having conversations with my grandchildren about this time. They should look around and remember the moment. As young as they are, this is one of those moments future generations will ask them about. They are living through history, and should take the opportunity to appreciate that.
On the other hand, I continue to have conversations with my Mom reminding her she lived through far worse. The Great Depression and WWII are examples. Events that challenged the future and had no timeline. Staying in her home for 30 days pales to those challenges.
Bring those two together.
A young solider leaves home for WWII and has no idea for how long, or if, he will ever return. There is an enemy then intent on his demise that is not only seeking him, but he must seek to fix the world. There is no FaceTime, IPhones, instant text or means of contact. You hope “mail call” catches up to you one day. Stay indoors with heat, air conditioning, cable TV and electricity? What they faced in places like Normandy, The Battle of The Bulge and Okinawa were weather conditions far different.
Yes, I tell my Mom her generation has been through worse, and yes, I tell the kids this is a challenge, but you are lucky. No complaints, just be part of all those finding solutions all around us all day.
Be back with news of the day and times later this week.