OPINION

Everything is great, but the world sucks! That seems to be the defining quote of 2020. There are some extremely suckerific things going on—I am looking at you COVID-19—but they will not last, just as they did not last in the past.

The Black Death was followed by the Renaissance, the greatest time for arts and culture our planet may have ever known

The Spanish Flu led to the 1919 Major League Baseball season when all-time attendance records were set. And to be clear, despite what the talking heads on cable TV want you to believe, this is no Spanish Flu where 675,000 American’s died in a nation with 105 million people. In today’s numbers, that would equate to more than 2.1 million people lost to the virus.

As Ruchir Sharma, the Chief Global Strategist at Morgan Stanley, wrote, “Crisis rarely change anything. They simply accelerate existing trends. Prognostications are an irresistible exercise for many journalists, futurists, intellectuals, (and politicians), but they’re usually wrong.”

We rebuilt Warsaw, Hiroshima, Germany, the World Trade Center site, and Oklahoma City despite the ‘experts’ and their failed predictions. September 11 was going to empty New York City and shut down air travel forever.  Since the Twin Towers fell, 15 of Manhattan’s 35 tallest skyscrapers have been built. Change happened and, in many cases, for the better, but we survived and thrived.

The ‘A’ in U.S.A. does not stand for agoraphobia. We are not going to spend our lives hiding and waiting for our QVC packages to arrive. We are Americans, we believe in science, data, compassion, and taking care of each other, including wearing masks.

Not wearing a mask is not a political statement. It is either someone who is selfish or un-American, who refuses to sacrifice just a little for the common good as EVERY generation of Americans has before them, or it is someone who is hanging out with stupid people. As I left the house as a teenager, my grandfather who spent 16 years in the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Army during the entirety of WWII, sending money home every week to help support his family, would remind me, ‘Stupid sticks.’ Don’t hang out with stupid people; you will get sick, and you or someone you love might die.

So be proud to be an American. Do not hate your neighbor because they are voting for a different candidate; vote and accept the outcome. Do not hang out with stupid people or watch them on TV. Wear your damn mask, and for the love of God, get a flu shot.

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Ron Kitchens is CEO and senior partner of regional economic development catalyst Southwest Michigan First. To connect with Ron, visit the Always Forward website for more of his leadership insight.