Oftentimes when I sit down to write my column, I struggle as to what to write about. Well, as you can imagine, that is not a problem this week.
You guessed it -- today’s topic is COVID 19.
I am not going to tell you to wash your hands and cover your mouth and nose when you cough and sneeze.
I am not going to tell you about whatever stimulus program Washington is debating over, I am not going to tell about how many new positive test results have been reported, and worse, I am not going to tell how many new deaths have been reported.
What I am going to tell you is I am scared. There you have it.
The big, sometimes grumpy, sometimes happy, and most of the time self-confident and fun-loving guy is scared.
The odd thing is, I am not scared as to whether or not I will contract the virus.
I am scared as to how unprepared we are as a society to handle such a catastrophic event.
Before I go any further, I am part of that society, so I am as guilty as anyone.
Our level of dependence on our governments -- federal, state and local -- has been exposed. Our level of instant panic has been exposed. Our level of living from paycheck to paycheck has been exposed.
Our level of -- or should I say lack of -- self-reliance has been exposed.
What I find as most disturbing is our level of divisiveness based on which cable news (propaganda) channel we watch.
I am scared as to how my business and yours will come through this. The long-term effect is the great unknown; the short-term effect is assuredly not a positive one.
The 32nd president of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt, spoke the words, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” And no, I am not a political junkie. I looked that up on Google.
The way I look at it is that if you’re not scared (fearful) of something, you can’t really address those fears.
That said, it’s my hope that I, and maybe some of you, learn something from what scares us about today’s events and we make some changes so the next time we have a catastrophic event such as this, we are better prepared to cope.