Dad's Back

As the light starts to glimmer in this tunnel called the pandemic, I am finding many of us changed by the experiences of the last year. Some of us are still frightened to death of being frightened to death, and some of us now see the world differently from before the beginning of the journey.

We survived.

I like to think of it as pragmatic but survivor-ship confers a special quality to our outlook on Life. Not quite cynicism but something with a definite sarcastic flavor.

We are all tired from this long journey called COVID-19, yet we are not ready to set down our luggage just yet.

Big Disappointments

I am the proverbial optimist. That glass bubbles half full most all of the time for me but during this pandemic, my experience of people has tempered my view.

After witnessing so many poor and self-serving behaviors by so many individuals this last year, especially those in positions of authority in society, I have revised down many of my estimations of character for folks I once held in much higher regard.

COVID pushed all of us out of our comfort zones. I just did not expect to see so many individuals break and run.

I am still a proud human being and I have grown from these difficult times. I am just a little reluctant to place all of my faith in others right now.

Transformation Happens

I still found redemption of my old views in the exceptional behaviors of a few leaders who determined a path and stayed the course. Courageous acts have surely occurred, though each of these individuals have struggled under social pressure to conform to the popular story-line of fear and more fear.

I always thought that peer pressure and group-think were remnants of adolescence. I stand corrected.

Growing through experiences of challenge is one thing. Caregivers do that every day. Watching someone else struggling publicly with challenges is different.

We have been struggling together at the same time as each person has worked to respond to upheavals in our lifestyles. I had gotten comfortable stepping up and handling difficulties without any audience. Managing crisis as a worldwide group has certainly been different. It has been more… real.

Fork in the Road

There is a speed to change. We now know that this speed can vary according to circumstances.

The funny part is that no matter how fast or how slow, the change still arrives in our laps. How we respond to that change is more telling about our true character than a whole list of noble accomplishments and awards.

All of us are now arriving at a personal place where we have an important choice to make. It is not the groups we identify with or our outward appearance. We have to choose the character we want to be.

COVID has provided us with a big reset button for society. By virtue of coming through the experience alive, we are changed in some fundamental ways. We are not the same people with the same outlooks on Life we were a year ago.

We have learned of new attitudes from our experiences and observations. Ideas of division and destruction are suddenly as readily available and popular as traditional values of integrity and love for one another. Tough choice. The challenge lies in the lasting value of those decisions.

We now know that we are not indestructible nor immortal. We are however resilient and stronger than we thought.

Let’s choose wisely.

The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.

― Friedrich Nietzsche