Well it has been a few weeks since I posted a blog and it was an intentional pause in my fairly regular posts. I wanted to take the end of the year and focus on my family and friends. But we are now in 2021 and you can fully expect to see more regular posting! I know you all are super excited as am I. This year I will focus on the usual business but have decided to take about one of every five posts and make it light hearted and fun. Doom and gloom filled everyone's 2020 and I want to make sure we don't continue the trend this year. So for my first post of the new year I wanted to look at just how Covid-19 changed our everyday lives and the fallout from those changes.
The first thing that changed was our work environments. For me personally I still had to go into work and battle the daily grind. But for so many others including my wife work had moved into our homes. Our kids also moved into the homes. This forced parents to not only adapt to working from a distance but also being home teachers and students as they sat through the grade level of their kids. For my wife it was work, teacher and third grader and believe me when I say it was a challenge. So in looking at how this changes our future I can say my company found about 30% of our workers were capable of working from home and being as efficient or more efficient than being in the office. For any businesses this is great news as they can stop paying for real estate for their offices and save money on the bottom line. The bad side of the lockdowns was of course many long standing local businesses closed their doors for good. This has cause major impact to the economy in every single state. In 2021 I think we will see continued troubleshooting and finding ways to be profitable that are outside of the "normal" and I think that is a good thing.
Next was our interactions with other at work and in society. We had a huge divide in mask vs no mask, lockdown vs no lockdown, and of course politics continued to be as divided as ever. The only take away I have from all of it is that the powers that be have gained power using fear and difference of opinion. The very same people who told us 15 days to slow the spread and tossed crumbs at us in the form of stimulus payments are the same people who continued to make millions or billions of dollars all while telling us we needed to struggle to ensure the health and safety of our fellow citizens. They intentionally caused mistrust among the people and sat back watching the United States burn. They showed they have no concern for anything except their own power and profit. To them it is a game as they advocate shutting down restaurants because it is too dangerous for us and then the very same day stopping and eating at those restaurants on the way home. They adopted the do as I say not as I do attitude. We were told to avoid gathering for holidays and travelling because it was dangerous, yet they left those press conferences and went to their private jets to fly and spend time with their families. My takeaway here is that none of these restrictions are about our safety, they are about controlling our lives. That to me is completely unacceptable.
Finally we saw our government more divided than ever. We saw the Democratic party move so far left they embraced socialism fully and the Republicans continued to ignore what many consider very dangerous. President Trump got blamed for a worldwide pandemic, massive deficit caused by congress, and businesses suffering due to restrictions put in place by state governments. He has done so many positive things for America all while donating ever single penny he earned as President to charity. He gave up millions of dollars to server the American people while other govt official got rich. This shift in our govt, if not slowed or reversed, will cause the downfall of America as we know it. That also to me is unacceptable.
So in the end 2020 is in the rearview and we can look forward to 2021. As we do this I ask all of us to do what we can to make positive ripples in our ponds. We have no control over the massive ocean that is the United States but we do have control over caring about our family and friends. It doesn't matter if you are Democrat or Republican, white or black, female or male, or any other trait used to divide us as people. Love those around you, care for your fellow citizens, and do your best to make someone else smile every day. Only by uniting as people and Americans can we make this country everything our founders wanted it to be. Remember how you felt on Sept 12, 2001. That day we were united as Americans who had suffered a massive tragedy. I think Jan 1, 2021 we are also Americans who have suffered a massive tragedy, the loss of our freedoms and country as we know it. Spread positivity and love not doom and gloom.
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