A Challenging Year - Part II

As many of you are aware I typically take time out to share my thoughts about current topics of relevance and/or interest in writing on Saturday mornings. Even with a five year old to help care for, I try to reserve Saturdays, especially the mornings, to do what I want to do. Sometimes this means finishing up a project (either around the house, or for a class), sometimes it means playing Barbie’s with my daughter, sometimes it means riding my motorcycle or flying, and sometimes it means watching Netflix. In any case, 99% of the time on a Saturday morning, if you’re watching, you will observe me doing exactly what I want to do be doing at that particular moment in time.

Today is no different. I will spare you any photography, but for those that either know me, or else participate on Zoom videoconference calls with me during the work week, you know that I spend a significant amount of time in my study. This is my space, and if something should happen to me, either suddenly or if I manage to catch an infection by SARS-CoV-2, and someone needs to come up with either a eulogy or some “kind” words about who Stephen Amato was, the aforementioned unfortunate party will need to look no further than my study to understand who I am (was) and who I want (wanted) to be.

 So today also happens to be Halloween. My 5 year old is very excited because her mom purchased a ‘Frozen’ costume for her that she absolutely adores, and she wasted no time putting on the costume as soon as she got up at her usual time of 5:00 AM or thereabouts. In addition to speaking with her in the background (I never close my study door when she is home…..) I am listening to Buddhist, ‘bar flavored’ chill music on Spotify using speakers that while physically diminutive in absolute size, are powerful enough to vibrate windows around the house. This is the way I like it, although my opinion on this particular subject is not shared by all. 

But there will be no trick or treating this year. There may not be trick or treating next year. We may never have what used to be considered a normal Halloween trick or treat event ever again. Halloween is my favorite holiday, so for me personally, this leaves a void both in my heart, as well as in the promises I made to by then 4 year old last year. At this very moment in 2019 I was on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner traveling home from Taipei from a strenuous, yet rewarding work related trip with the commercial folks from the University that I love to call my home away from home. I got back to Boston late evening, I believe on the night of Halloween itself, although it seems so long ago that I forget. So, between Francesca (my 5 year old), and my older kids (read ages 27 and 23) I will more than likely never experience what I consider to be a traditional Halloween ever again. Yes, I will adapt, but I have the luxury of time and experience, and of having had the opportunity to run around screaming and collecting candy from my childhood neighborhood for at least 10-12 years anyway. Adulthood brought its own set of Halloween adventures but those are stories for different times and different days.

Now, as we sit on the edge of November, in a year where it is surprising to talk to folks who are not anxiously clamoring for a ‘reboot’, accompanied by prayers that 2021 will bring some improvement I have lots of thoughts and emotions continuously running through my brain. The problem is that we live in a world under circumstances where certain terms are challenging, difficult or even impossible to precisely define.  ‘Reboot’, ‘improvement’, ‘resilience’, ‘challenging’, and even ‘empathy’……WHAT DO THESE THINGS MEAN? How can we use these words in a way that convey a wish for good tidings for our neighbors, without being perceived as patronizing, at best, or even insulting, at worst, to others?

No answers here – if you are looking for those answers, or at least one person’s objective responses I suggest that you move on, and get back to what you usually do on Saturdays, as you will find neither herein. For me, the very act of writing this piece is selfish on my part, since writing about stuff we may not talk a lot about during the week can be cathartic, yet polarizing. That is certainly the case for me. The challenging part, or at least one of the challenging parts is deciding on the content of this catharsis – we have a plethora of issues to choose from: the pandemic, the election, racial justice, climate change, changes in the structure of higher education, or how to raise a child in a world that has seemingly gone insane. I imagine this is how folks may have felt in 1915 or so, after the outbreak of WWI.

But I do believe in positivity, and while I have days when I think Judgement Day has come, and that, collectively, we are not long for this world, for the most part I do my best to be optimistic. We are indeed, racing to the end of 2020 from a calendar perspective, and very soon the US election will (hopefully) be over, and the ballots counted. We are also continuing to work on our racial justice issues, and I am very proud to work with an Institution, and its constituents, that will not rest until we see more fairness on the planet. Moreover, we continue to find more water on the Moon, and there is every reason to believe that someday the same will hold true for Mars. And last but not least, we are continuing our steady march towards a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine. In fact, at this time next year I personally believe that there will be multiple such vaccines, as well as treatments for the disease itself. In fact, our challenges one year from now will transition to SARS-CoV-2 treatment supply chains, their integrity, who pays for associated treatments, and how do we ration what will likely be a limited supply of rx and vaccine units.

So until that time we need to collectively hold our heads up high. Personally, I hope to continue to be the globe-trotting citizen of the world that I still consider myself to be, but not to worry about sitting for 12+ hours on a long metal tube with folks sitting in the middle seats, and airlines too cost conscious to run the aircraft ventilations systems on ‘high’. Even more importantly, I hope that we will have come to a place where we can at least agree on what constitutes racial justice, and on a solid plan to squarely address the issue. Global warming and climate change is what it is, but I believe most recognize that is is a critically important issue – millennials who may be reading this I hope will not be offended, but I have lots of faith in that generation to play a large role in formulating global policy to effectively address. Having spent 50 years on the planet now, and with a marketing background I believe that I can more or less cleanly segment Gens. X, Y & Z, and I firmly believe that each segment of the population has its individual strengths and weaknesses. But I also believe that what unites each generation is dedication and a commitment to making Planet Earth a nicer place to live. I don’t think anyone wants to see our home turn into an environment that physiologically forces us to find another planet to live on, but, of course, no one knows or can predict the future, and, as a regulatory affairs professional, I realize that the level of risk is never zero.

Similarly, addressing the challenges and issues we have discussed herein successfully is possible, and I believe our chances of achieving that success are greater than zero. So, as I think I heard in a TV commercial at one point: Here’s to the believers, the doer’s, those are not afraid to take on tough challenges, and those who change (or will continue to change) the world……

 Until next time…..