| My father-in-law was a junior high school teacher, principal, and lifelong mentor. When students would complain about geometry, he would respond, “It’s not about the triangle. It’s about our ability to solve problems with a limited amount of information.”
The students’ reaction: irritation from working on challenging (and seemingly irrelevant) problems.
Their meaningful response: perseverance in search of a solution.
Similarly, it’s not about the pandemic or the quarantine (or even about toilet paper!). It’s about persevering in the face of unpredictability. It’s about finding ways to triumph with limited resources.
Our (understandable) reactions: frustration, fear, and anger in a world that feels out of our control.
David Kessler, author of Finding Meaning: The Sixth Stage of Grief, recently reflected on the pandemic, “We are feeling a collective loss of the world we all lived in before.”
He continued, “We must find meaning, not in the loss, but in our response. Meaning is what we do next.”
Let’s acknowledge some things “we have done next”:
- We have learned to leverage technology.
- We have reconnected with family and friends.
- We have continued to work, exercise, and attend school from home.
- We have improvised birthday parties and celebrations.
- We have architected new structures, routines, and memories.
- We have re-evaluated our priorities and commitments.
- We have expanded our contributions at work and in the community.
- We have re-invented how we deliver products and services.(e.g. The Twisted Citrus restaurant in North Canton, Ohio mounted shower curtains between tables to innovatively create “social distance” while meeting their financial need for many diners.)
And we met what was once deemed an impossible challenge: to slow down our world.
But ultimately, it’s not about the pandemic.
It’s about our response to it: determination, resourcefulness, initiative, grit, creativity, strength, kindness, gratefulness, intentionality, and courage. |
