- Marc and Jill at Ebey’s Landing with the Olympic Mountains in the background.
With everything going on in Seattle on the COVID-19 front, the above phrase keeps entering my mind. I know it is also strongly associated with Liverpool Football Club for a number of reasons, including a completely avoidable tragedy in 1989 where 96 people were killed. It keeps coming back to me because all of the recent news has me thinking more and more about what happened post-9/11. At that time, I felt alone because it wasn’t socially acceptable to ask for help, but I knew I wasn’t alone. Fortunately today is a different world in that arena.
Many commentators keep talking about how a recession is imminent, so they are drawing parallels to 2008. To me, this feels more like fall, 2001. People are scared. They feel they are on quicksand and what people knew as tried and true are just not that. No one perpetrated an act of violence and murder like what happened in 2001.
THAT. JUST. DID. NOT. HAPPEN. IN. THE. USA.
And yet it did. I definitely had my share of struggles post-9/11. It was certainly a form of PTSD, particularly with seeing the 2nd plane actually hit the World Trade Center as well as seeing the 2nd tower come crashing down and people running for their lives. What many of us witnessed was beyond comprehension and incredibly difficult to process. For me, it still is - to wit, I still have not and am not ready to hit the 9/11 museum in NYC. Not ashamed to publicly admit it, but it took time to get there.
So now we are in COVID-19 preventative measures mode. “Social distancing” is now a thing. Socializing and grieving together was the one thing post-9/11 that allowed folks to “move on”, but that now needs to take on a different form. Businesses that form the lifeblood of our communities are either vastly changing their business model or shutting down for good. Families are completely having to re-think how they run their lives with schools being closed indefinitely, people being asked to work from home and other activities are being cancelled (or moving to virtual versions).
In many ways, this is very different than 9/11. But yet in many ways, it is the same. People are struggling or will struggle to adjust to this new normal. Supermarkets are busy but eerily quiet. With 9/11, the images were very visceral. With COVID-19, the fear of contagion is very real to the point where people are struggling on what and whom to believe.
In both situations, people were literally coming to grips with what transpired or is transpiring, and uttering ‘WTF’ A LOT. And people like me working downtown post-9/11 were confronted with acrid smoke as well as constant visuals of what happened on that horrible day. Think constant physical and emotional damage being inflicted on a daily basis. Now we have social media hammering us throughout our days. Information overload never ends.
For those of you wondering what is going on here in Seattle, here is the skinny:
Our 1st line responders, including ER clinical personnel, are short on supplies. No press conference should convince you of this otherwise. They and their families are at risk by helping the communities they serve. If you know someone in this role, please thank them profusely.
Our proud assortment of small businesses is in danger because everyone is being told to stay home. Staying home is the right advice but it does not help the small business owner who employs others and needs to pay rent, in addition to covering their own expenses. A payroll tax holiday is a dumb idea. Small business stimulus to bridge the time that people are being told to stay home - way more impactful.
No one has confidence that the government has a legitimate plan. And the only way the markets will start to recover (because someone in DC always pegs their self-worth on market performance) is when a clear and a realistic plan emerges to test anyone who would like a test. Supplies are lacking, information is not trusted and diagnoses of COVID-19 are going to get much worse before they improve. Hello FUD!
Parents are struggling with schools closing to different degrees and how they are going to manage childcare with schoolwork along with the jobs that pay their mortgages/rents. And then you have the gig economy/restaurant/retail workers who have an entirely different set of struggles, which are way more acute.
The only good thing coming out of this from my perspective in comparing post-9/11 to COVID-19 is that talking about mental health and emotional well-being is way more accepted now in the workplace. My employer at the time had group support sessions in the office, which was actually amazing considering it was Wall Street and investment banking. No one talked about mental health then. You were weak if you did. I already see employers being proactive about the impacts of COVID-19 on their employees’ personal lives. I know it isn’t everyone having that experience, but it is way more than I ever imagined after my time in 2001.
As we try and figure out how to navigate this new phase, please try to remember that you’ll never walk alone.
Ask for help. People are struggling like you. It may be for the same reasons as you, or they may differ. But they are sussing this out and how it impacts them. You never know where you may find a kindred spirit. This is an unprecedented situation for many of us.
Have compassion. You never know the additional burdens that the person you’re talking to has that they aren’t mentioning.
Perform random acts of kindness, if the opportunity presents itself. You may be struggling, but someone is likely grappling with something more complex than you. You never know what doing something nice for someone else can do for that person.
BUT….. Appreciate what you have today. I still believe we live in the best country in the world, regardless of what I think of the person in the Oval Office. Opportunities exist and the power of the people can make things happen. Hopefully this plays out in November and we demand the change that is necessary to prevent situations like this from happening in the future.
In the interim, Marc and I went on a hike today where we were able to get some social distancing in but take in the Olympic Mountains. It was wonderful to get some fresh air, amazing views and sunshine.
We’ll be thinking positive thoughts for all of you as you work through this situation.
This was literally lying on the ground at the trailhead of where we hiked today. You literally cannot make this stuff up.