Really Caring for One Another!

In today’s business world, there have been so many rough roads to traverse. It may be that a larger proportion of employers have laid off or furloughed employees than ever before in our Nation’s history. The pain and suffering has been incredible. It’s not just the disease that is taking a toll, it’s every aspect of our lives. Fear has ruled the day and because of that fear, our society has been incapacitated. What can we possibly do? How can we get past this? Fortunately, we have some fabulous examples of what some people have done to restore hope and inject life back into our world.

This picture of the Covid19 virus makes it look very large, but it is actually quite tiny. This tiny little virus, so small it can pass through most of the masks people are wearing these days, is one of the nastiest respiratory viruses we’ve ever encountered, but we have figured out how to defeat the virus. And not just the physical virus, but the emotional and psychological virus as well. We now know that social distancing, soap, disinfectant cleaners, and alcohol based hand sanitizers will keep the virus from spreading. We also know that starting to create plans for how we will get back to business gives people hope. On top of all of this we’ve realized that the real heroes are the people who cared so much that they put themselves in harm’s way for us!

In my conversations with our clients, I have been continuously impressed by how much those clients have cared about me, my family, and my colleagues. I reach out to them to make sure they are alright and they beat me to it by caring about me. The old saying is “behind every dark cloud there is a silver lining.” For me that silver lining is all the people I’ve had the privilege to build a relationship with. Some are clients, some are colleagues, some are friends, and then there is my family. These precious people give me hope! Proverbs 29:18 tells us “where there is no vision, the people perish!” With all the protecting maneuvers from so many officials, what they have failed to do is lay out a vision. This focus on the disease is important but, “We the People” need a vision, or we will perish.

I’m very encouraged by people like my client Jeff Parks. He gets it. He understands that failing to have his people focus on a vision for a brighter future would result so much pain and darkness, they may not emotionally survive. By directing his people to start planning for the business restart, rather than focusing on everything that’s gone wrong, he has infused hope into a seemingly hopeless world. And Jeff is not the only leader to have done this. There are dozens of them out there. Now is the time for our community, county, state, and national leaders to start sowing the seeds of hope. Give us a vision to rally around, not a disease. WWII’s vision was a world without tyranny. 9/11’s vision was a world without terror. I’m waiting for the Covid19 vision. Let’s make it bigger than this disease. Let’s make a vision of inclusion, caring, and reconciliation. Time to put our differences aside and to unite around those things we all hold dear. Perhaps our Founders said it best: Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness!