Publisher’s Letter: RESILIENCE!

Considering political scandals as the virus surges in many of our neighboring states, national news can seem pretty grim these days.

Currently, we ignore the warnings of national health experts at our peril lest we go the way of states that opened prematurely and incurred ever-increasing numbers of critically ill patients being admitted to their hospital emergency rooms — risking over-capacity.

In Colorado to date, most of us continue to be responsible to ourselves and to our neighbors, practicing social distancing and wearing masks in stores, on public transit and out in public when we can’t practice social distancing. Coloradans have had a sober response to the challenges all humanity faces at this moment in time.

With the risk of sounding maudlin, when considering what all this pandemic is doing to our economy, it’s important to keep in mind that dead people can’t purchase goods and services — so it’s vitally important to first protect public health above all other considerations.

But with all this uncertainty it’s easy to feel overwhelmed or fear the worst concerning the years to come. That’s understandable and could lead a person to despair — if it weren’t for one important factor: the indomitable spirit that often rises up in each individual, especially during the rare times when personally, they are sorely challenged.

In gentler times, Americans were sometimes considered “soft” by cultures whose life circumstances were and are more challenging than ours.

However, throughout the ages, humankind has shown us cause for hope. It’s often when people are up against adverse conditions not of their own making that they come forth with a response of which they didn’t know they were capable.

All manner of greatness can spring forth — from unseen small kindnesses to neighbors and strangers, to oneself, one’s friends, and to one’s family members to major cultural changes — because the times demand it!

When things are merely “okay” people can go for years just “accepting” the status quo because change is often painful. In times of relative calm and prosperity, it’s exceedingly difficult to “rock the boat” merely to improve the human condition.

Most significant change in history occurred when things were “so bad” that change just had to happen.

For decades now, American workers have toiled long hours for the profit of the 1%. Now that they’ve had the forced opportunity to work from home (and perhaps take better care of their own needs for rest and pacing), it’s possible that a quiet revolution may happen when, in the months or years to come, it’s safer to return to a new normal.

Those of us who are fortunate to survive this pandemic will come through changed — in fact, we will never be the same.

Having been so challenged by the constant underlying threat of serious illness and potential loss of life, we will know on a deep level what matters most — and that’s a good thing!

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LOCAL NEWS — CRITICAL AT A TIME LIKE THIS!

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Blaine Howerton