My Humble Plea to all Americans

I don't often beg. I am not a celebrity. No one owes me anything. I am a mother, a wife, a small business owner and a proud American and this is my plea to each and every one of us... The world has been handed COVID-19. No one has the answers (if they say they do they are lying) because the problem is new to everyone. We are all figuring this out as we go - each individual, each family, each company, each school, each community. Some days we wake up hopeful and other days we wake up with despair. Each of us will try a variety of tactics put one foot in front of the other each day. Some will work. Some will not. We have GOT to stop looking for the failures and celebrating them by vilifying those who tried something. This is a waste of precious time and resources and it does nothing to move us forward. Instead we need to wake up each day, look for the successes and ask ourselves: How can we replicate this? How can we scale this?

In the last two weeks I have watched with sadness as the media and the public have focused on a children's camp that had to shut down due to virus spread and a school that was forced to shut down after trying to open. The conversation around these situations was negative and concluded that all hope is lost and we should stop trying. But I know that camps across the US have operated all summer with great success. Young campers went off to camp with hesitance, knowing that it would be different and fearful that the COVID-19 protocols would zap the magic of the experience. These same campers returned and reported that, while the experience had indeed been different, in many ways it had been better. Yes different can actually be good if you let it. Because the children were forced to stay with a small group, they built deeper relationships, their days were less hectic and each child was forced to step outside their comfort zone and try activities that others in their group wanted to do. These children returned energized, excited to find new interests, fulfilled with new friendships that went deeper than a tweet or a snapchat. And yet where are these stories celebrated? (kudos to the Washington Post for highlighting one of them (https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/this-summer-camp-was-open-during-the-1918-flu-outbreak-and-its-open-this-year/2020/08/03/2ca90eca-bfc3-11ea-9fdd-b7ac6b051dc8_story.html).

Why are we not studying these success stories and asking ourselves how we can apply these approaches to our own communities, to our schools and to our work environments? Will it be easy - NO - nothing worth doing ever is. But every minute spent criticizing people for the things that didn't work could be redirected to studying the things that have worked and looking for ways to apply them. As an aerospace engineer myself, I am well aware that many analytical folks are already thinking of the reasons why these successes won't work in other settings. But I beg you. Before you think of all the reasons they won't work, take just 5 minutes and think about how some small part of them could work. What have you got to lose but 5 minutes? You still have all the time in the world to criticize. Just 5 min - what about the model that worked in one setting could work in another setting?

This virus will be with us for a while and we have to find a way to co-exist. I don't know what that looks like but I know the only way to find it is to have the courage to try something. If we attack those who are willing to try a solution, then those courageous leaders will stop trying and we will all pay the price.

Out greatest innovations come out of crisis. Our greatest ideas come when we lack resources (because when we have unlimited resources we don't have to be creative). Our children are watching us right now. What are we teaching them? Are we teaching them that when life hands them a challenge they should throw up their hands, criticize those who are trying to find a solution and just give up? Or are we teaching them that when life hands them a challenge they should find a way around it and bring others along? Our children need to know that life goes on and obstacles are opportunities in disguise. When they see us criticize our local educators, coaches and other community service leaders, they are taught to sit back and criticize those trying to make a difference until they can safely come out and benefit from certainty.

I beg each of us to be the leader to our peers that we can be. Develop an idea. Try it. Support one another and stop shooting each other down. We all get to the finish line together - there is no other way. Leadership does not require a title. In fact, the greatest leaders I know are humble citizens. When your local school, church, employer offers up ideas - support them and offer up suggestions for improvement rather than criticizing. Reply "Yes, and" instead of "Yes, but." If you have an idea try it and don't let the critics bully you into giving up. If you try something and it doesn't work, be the first to study what didn't work and try something else.

Tomorrow when you wake up - look for a success, give it 5 minutes and look for one way you can apply that approach in your own community. This is my plea.