There are just some weeks when columns write themselves.
This week is not one of those weeks.
By now, every person in our community has been impacted in one way or another by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many workers have already been subjected to layoffs. Some are telecommuting and working from home. Others have outright lost jobs that they hope to one day get back when we are through this. Small business owners are wondering how long this will last and how they can adapt to get through it.
Owners of businesses such as restaurants, bars and boutiques are adapting and innovating as they always do. Others, such as salons, spas and chiropractors — the list goes on — are also worried about the future. And the leaders of our larger employers are working to preempt closures and keep their workplaces safe.
There are nonprofits who exist solely to make the world better who wonder if they will continue to be able to stay in existence.
And there are the retirees who are watching their investments lose value, wondering what is next. The seniors living month to month who were struggling before now and who now are worried about going to the grocery to have the food they need to survive. There are people in nursing facilities across our community who would wait for their family visit who no longer have those to look forward to. And the scores of school children who are being home-schooled by frazzled adults. High school seniors who may miss prom and commencement. And college students being shut out of campuses and living indefinitely back home, with some graduating into an unsure economy.
In short, the life of every person in our community has been disrupted. And that very fact makes this a unifying moment beyond what I have ever experienced. We are truly in this together. Over the next few weeks, we will have an opportunity to show who we are. To take care of one another. To practice social distancing to avoid the spike of sick people who need health care attention.
I ask you to go to our FaceBook, Instagram and Twitter social media accounts. We have ways to help our small businesses on those sites. Our Chamber has been communicating with our membership daily on a range of financial and legislative issues relating to COVID-19.
If you have an idea, work the idea. Most of the great things that happen in the world come from a few people getting together and deciding they are going to do it. This is a hallmark of who Owensboro is.
I had the opportunity to know my four grandparents, who I deeply admired, well into my adult life. They were all children during the Depression and then young adults in World War II. I think about them and remember that they went through far, far more than we will as we endure this.
Owensboro, we can do this.