“One of the extraordinary things about human events is that the unthinkable becomes thinkable.” — Salman Rushdie
Do you remember where you were when the world stopped spinning the way it was supposed to? Can you recall the exact moment when the very things we take for granted—say, hugging a family member or best friend—seemed like the wrong move?
This is the world in 2020. I am not here to remind you that life—and everything you do, everyone you know and love, all of it—has changed. You already know that. You are living it. We all are. If you are like me, in those fleeting moments when you reflect on just how simple things used to be, you probably ask yourself why. Why us? Why now? Just why?
There are no easy answers. That notion is as easy and as complicated as that. I mean, what do you do when you are not sure what your next move is?
I believe you start by looking beyond the questions with no answers. I believe you take a deep dive into the impossible and try to get to the other side with what is possible. The examples are everywhere, being done by decent, hardworking people who have decided, in this moment, to reach out and make the impossible, possible.
- Our cover story — Pretoria Fields Brewery/Taproom in Albany, Georgia — making hand sanitizer at the governor’s request to help a community in need.
- The Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild developing a craft beer-specific map outlining the breweries and brewpubs offering craft suds to-go by area taprooms.
- Wyndridge Farm in York County, Pennsylvania donating proceeds of its beer sales to help local pandemic victims
- Marker 48 in Tampa, Floria offering take-out orders, hosting a farmer’s market and making hand sanitizer for local hospitals.
Right now, each of you reading this are part of a community helping people as much as you may have been hurt. There are scores of small retailers across the country continuing to serve customers while respecting the social distancing and shelter-in-place guidelines. They are working as hard for your survival as they are theirs.
These stories are everywhere. When the bottom fell out of our cultural and business lifelines, we had two choices: give in or push forward. The smart money is on pushing forward. None of us can make up for the choices, decisions and circumstances that took us to this place, this moment. All we can do is make the best of what we can, reaching out and grabbing hold of whomever and whatever we can until the storm passes.
Remember, although I know it is hard, that this is just a storm—one that seems unrelenting and unconquerable in one moment, but able to deliver the best of us in the next.
That is where I choose to stand. The choices we make in times of peril are the ones we live with long after the peril passes.
It might be good to remember that when it is your turn to step up.