Go to Admin » Appearance » Widgets » and move Gabfire Widget: Social into that MastheadOverlay zone
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ASPA as an organization.
By Robert Brescia
April 18, 2020
Shortly after the COVID-19 coronavirus exploded on our national scene, many people tried to quickly learn how to do their jobs from home. For the most part, they referred to this new phenomenon as, “Working from home.” While this may be true, the onslaught of this sinister virus has caused a culture change in this country, extending well beyond the simple change of, “Doing one’s work from home.”
In the West Texas Permian Basin area, where we are blessed to live, professionals and families experienced a double-whammy—oil prices tanked (pun intended) at about the same time that the coronavirus was approaching its peak. Families are suffering as the breadwinners are losing their jobs and they are living in constant apprehension that the virus somehow made its way into their household.
There have been, however, positive episodes and anecdotes related to this stay-at-home lifestyle. These would include:
Now let’s discuss about this supposed new normal. The way we are conducting ourselves given the constraints of COVID Culture has been exemplary—we should continue these increased levels of civility and mutual support. Closing businesses by government mandate is not at all normal and should be eliminated as soon as possible. There are really two facets of COVID Culture, which include: 1) Government overreach into private companies, business and operations and, 2) Personal behaviors of citizens in an open and free society. The latter continues to be a bright light and a beacon for stellar Americanism while the former is abnormal and dangerous to true Americanism.
My own state of Texas is adopting a commonsense approach to return the state to full economic operation and restore well-being to families, schools, small businesses and organizations of all kinds. This may be the result of a task force designed to review risk-benefit ratios and factors regarding re-opening each part of our state’s economy. Positive messaging is essential to this approach and is becoming more prevalent statewide.
Closing small businesses by widespread mandate, either from a state or from the federal government, resembles actions taken under martial law conditions. If people line up and shop at large retail stores, they ought to be allowed to shop at smaller ones, taking the same precautions they would at the larger stores. Again, a measured and studied approach should be adopted as part of a state or preferably a local task force that can make such determinations.
Summary
I am raising my voice in opposition to those who are saying that our present situation is, “The new normal.” It’s anything but normal—it’s an aberration of the role of government. Private businesses are just that—private. To prescribe whether they are open or closed, or how they should operate, is just abnormal and flies in the face of freedom. COVID Culture will not last. With respect to our increased behaviors of civility, unity and mutual support, I sincerely hope they continue well past COVID Culture.
Poet Dylan Thomas penned his famous prose, “Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage, against the dying of the light.” In like manner, we should not and cannot wither in the face of this virus. We must not accept what some are calling the new normal as how things will be now and in the future. There is a light at the end of this COVID-19 tunnel, and it is getting brighter all the time. Our nation has been through many other crises successfully. We will defeat this insidious enemy and restore our true American normal across the land—stay the course!
Author: Dr. Robert Brescia is a senior executive with service to the nation in military, business, and education sectors. He respects the wisdom of generations and promotes the thrill of learning. Bob’s latest book is Destination Greatness – Creating a New Americanism. Bob has a doctoral degree with distinction in Executive Leadership from The George Washington University. Please contact him at [email protected].
Robert Brescia
April 27, 2020 at 10:07 pm
I tried pressing reply next to each of your fine comments on my article but it didn’t work, so here’s a global reply: THANK YOU! There is no totally “right” answer to our present dilemma – we are in uncharted waters. Your prayers really help and your action too. Our union is strong and it is because of our people, not out government or other ideologies. Bob
Steve Endsley
April 21, 2020 at 1:14 pm
I definitely appreciate the references to acts of civility and kindness that are happening despite the hopefully temporary new normal of Covid Culture. And as I’m not from Texas who knows if my experience is an outlier but I suspect not. It seems to me that a laissez faire approach to opening businesses, large or small, is a recipe for continuing pandemic and perpetual shelter in place. Most people are doing the right things, staying inside, otherwise keeping 6 feet apart, wearing masks and so on. Sadly, many are not, which ruins things for the rest of us. This is unscientific but let’s just say 80% of folks are social distancing and the rest are not. That’s all it takes to spread this disease indefinitely. I found this out the hard way a month or so ago in my local natural grocery store, most people politely complying, others shoving up behind me, even getting in my face. I never went back, luckily given that same store a month later just had two cases of Covid confirmed. I get that people are frustrated and I get that they are hurting economically. So far the federal government response has not put money directly in the hands of people who need it most. But it’s unlikely that just ‘going back to work’ is going to induce consumers to head back into confined, unprotected spaces where all it takes to get infected are a minority of people who don’t seem to care. I do indeed hope that isn’t the new normal.
Brenda Norman
April 21, 2020 at 12:06 pm
The voice of common sense and a patriot. Brenda
Les Littlejohn
April 21, 2020 at 10:48 am
Yes sir Bob! Get this in the Governor’s hands! The state and nation needs to see this! Lorraine Perryman could get it to him I believe. Les
Burden Lundgren
April 20, 2020 at 6:35 pm
I do not see any public health credentials in the author’s bio.
DS Ellis
April 20, 2020 at 4:57 pm
BRAVO! Your thoughts resonate with so many small business owners that the public sector employees cannot understand, or dont appreciate. The government is for and by the people – but some of our governors seem more interested in the opportunity and the public spotlight that trusting their citizens with common-sense measures. With the exception of hot spot cities, we need to get back to business now.
Darrell Moore
April 20, 2020 at 2:59 pm
No doubt we will defeat this thing. As you say, we’ve been through many a crisis as a nation. One point though, we have a generation of young people who’ve never really experienced a crisis. In all actuality, nothing on this global scale has happened since the end of WW2 (so I can count my generation as well). There’s a huge learning curve here for a lot of us. As we move through it, we’ll be making adjustments – we have to. Small businesses will come back, but first, we’ve got to get this crisis under some level of control. And, I believe the large businesses you reference are probably still in operation due to large groups of the population in need of their goods and services – namely, the essentials. A small business can’t readily serve a national population. My empathy goes out to small business owners. My prayer is that we get through this thing a much better nation.