My father passed away when I was 16, on March 16th, thirty years ago. I completely forgot about that until yesterday. I could not believe I let this significant date go by! This virus has consumed our lives so much that I forgot the 30th anniversary of my father's passing ten days after the fact.
He was 75 when I was born, believe it or not (he was born in 1898), and in 1918, he had the Spanish Flu as a young man. Now I’d hate to be one of the few father/son combos who had both Spanish Flu and COVID-19, but I’ll be damned that if I do, we’d be a father/son combo who also lived through both…
I started Better With Bacon, Inc. in November, 2001, two months after 9/11; obviously during an awful and uncertain time in our country’s history. I re-branded and relaunched the company as BWBacon Group in late 2009, in the middle of the recession. I’ve been thinking of these times and others when I had to reinforce again and again to myself that 'I got this.' Three years ago I had a hip replacement, and I thought I’d never ski or backpack again, a lasting identity crisis that loomed large.
I’m drawing on all these experiences that I learned and grew from, from my father’s passing to these all too familiar experiences of world-changing, economic and ego-altering forces of yesteryear and channeling them as best I can. This helps me to generate momentum and business continuity, optimism and hope. And it's working...
The coming weeks are going to require exceedingly strong communication from all of us, superlative teamwork with our staff, even helping and illuminating competitors, at least in my book. And it's going to require a certain resolve, fortitude and mental reserves that many of us have never tapped into before. For us, the best thing we can do, the most central motivation we have, is to invest time into our relationships.
Adversity does not build character, it reveals it. I saw a lot of character revealed last week in an outpouring of camaraderie, a desire to strengthen relationships, and people finding the courage to confront these challenges.
While many things have been and will continue to be cancelled, we can always draw on the memories of those who strengthened us, and the experiences we lived through before. And last I checked, relationships cannot just be cancelled, effort cannot be quashed, and selflessness cannot just close up shop. Nope! Right now, we need to be responsive to change more than ever. The maelstrom will pass, but the impact our we can have on others who need help will last a lifetime.
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