What is COVID 19 Teaching Us?

Besides the definition of “Zoom-Mullet” and how many consecutive days you can go without showering, what else are we learning as a country from the pandemic?

As we begin to start talking about emerging from the first wave of stay at home orders and considering what normal will look like, I find myself wondering what changes will stick with us. What have we been shown, what have we done, what have we resigned ourselves to that we will make part of our everyday lives. While there are many, many things that we all will gladly leave behind like the tragic loss of life and deflated economy there are some things that I am hoping we hang on to. Here are a few that I am considering, I want to hear what you want to learn from this, pass it on.

The Edge is Not That Far Away

One of the aspects of this crisis that has been shocking to me is the absolutely breathtaking speed with which the wheels have come off. In KC we went from celebrating a Super Bowl win to wondering what Corona means to seeing friends lose their jobs because of it in a matter of weeks. As an American, I tend to believe that we are somehow immune to the tragedies in other parts of the world. Typhoon here, massive floods there, all’s good in Leawood, KS. But COVID brought chaos to our doorstep in less time than it takes to kill a houseplant. 

This has exposed the fragile infrastructure that we all live in. From our personal situations to our government, strain and cracks in the system have been exposed in a shocking way. On a normal day, our current government is derisive, polarized and dysfunctional. Once things got serious with the pandemic, it turned into an outright dumpster fire. Regardless of their ideological differences, our leaders should be able to come together in a time of crisis and, well, lead. Instead private companies, local governments and small business have stepped in to show us what community really means. The Ford Innovation team made the choice to work at their own personal risk to hack PPE production in a matter of days. Medtronic has made source files for their ventilators available to the public. Local KC companies like Rieger and Co Distilleries converted their production to hand sanitizer and are donating massive amounts to front line workers even as their main business is basically non-existent. There are endless stories like this from across the nation.

On an individual level we have seen jobs disappear, savings evaporate, and what was a relatively comfortable existence devolve into desperation for some overnight. This highlights the need for the safety nets we take for granted and also the drive to get to a place where the majority of our country can have more than a week of expenses in the bank. 

One thing we should all learn from this is how to become resilient. How to find room to bend in times of struggle instead of breaking? Personally we can plan for the unexpected, the strain that we can bear on our own leaves more slack in the system for others who can’t fend for themselves. So I know I am making plans for the next wave now. What can you do to make create more slack?

Personal Responsibility and Leadership

Humans are remarkably resilient creatures. We can use our innate drive to succeed and will to live to design and create our way out of almost any problem. It is in us all and at a time like now, we find that strength to do more than we thought, give more than we have and reach out to others even as we are on the ropes ourselves. In our country, there are usually two paths we choose when we are put upon by crisis. We either rise to the occasion and take personal responsibility for helping ourselves and others OR we look for someone, something to blame, and expect someone else to deal with this for us. As much as I have been trying to avoid the news, when I do check, I find lots of stories about blame. Who knew what and when. Maybe instead of assigning responsibility, we should take responsibility and point the way with commitment, action, and hope. There will be plenty of time to assign fault later.

For me, this has shown me that I need to be much more involved with my community. How can I change the things I can control for the better good? What kind of lessons do I want my kids to see modeled? We have been staying connected with friends and family, making sure we put money in our local businesses and volunteering where we can. We all can lead through action and extend a hand. I thought I was doing great until my 76-year-old mom stopped by with masks she made herself for the entire family and her local volunteer group. In my mom’s words “Have the strength to take care of your own shit and help another.” Ok, well maybe she said it differently but that’s about the gist of it.

Connection is Everything

OK, don’t tell my family this but in a sick way, there is one aspect of the stay at home thing that I really, really like. Being trapped together has changed the dynamic in our house. We have dinner together, we see each other throughout the day between calls and homework and…we talk. I feel closer to my crew than I have in a long time. I know what is going on and am present in a way that I have not been in a long time. 

Conversely, I also realize how much I miss friends and family outside the house. For the last 3 weeks, I have had happy hour on Friday with two of my closest friends since high school and we talk for hours about nothing at all. Apparently all of the crap that was such a big deal 30 days ago (deadlines, acquiring things, end of the world decisions about college) was not that important after all. I plan on putting human connection much higher on the list of things I give a shit about and keep it a priority. Who knew E-Coffee could be that enlightening

I am sure I have more but that is enough for now. Please respond to this post with the things that you don’t want to quit doing once we start to emerge from our caves. In the meantime, I will go put some pants on, it is Wednesday for God’s sake.  And Bruce, wants to play "ring".