It’s difficult to imagine what the world might be like on the day you read this sentence.
The day I’m writing this is Wednesday, March 25. COVID-19 has sickened more than 450,000 people with more than 20,000 deaths globally. In the U.S., those numbers are more than 60,000 and 800, respectively, with public health officials anticipating exponentially higher numbers in the coming days. “Social distancing” is likely to be the phrase of the year, and entire states have been ordered to shelter in place.
Schools and colleges are shuttered. Graduations and weddings have been postponed, as well as funerals. To combat the virus’ already vast financial repercussions, Congress is working on an emergency relief package in the trillions of dollars. Given how much is changing, it’s not clear what’s included, who will be eligible or when it’ll take effect.
And that’s the toughest part: the not knowing.
In a culture obsessed with security, it’s unnerving to not know what’s coming next. Perhaps if our political climate were less combative, more of us would be inclined to simply buckle down and heed the direction of public health officials. Instead, we’ve added distrust and dissension to the pandemic. On the one hand, we have the devil-may-care beachgoers who think this is all being blown out of proportion, and on the other, we have the “end of the world as we know it” types, predicting an apocalypse.
While I’m a firm believer in the “things work out in the long run” view of life, we also have to deal with the most challenging short-term situation most of us have ever experienced. People are losing loved ones, their jobs and their businesses right now. The grief is already overwhelming for so many people — and we have a long way to go before this is over.
At some point, though, this will be over. And we have an opportunity to be better for it.
I say that in the context of the tornado that hit Nashville and middle Tennessee a few weeks ago. This is where much of our team lives and works. While we were all okay, many of us have family and friends who can’t say the same. The vultures began circling immediately. Trying to get stunned and scared people who just had their homes destroyed to take an immediate cash settlement, the shady characters were hoping to make a quick buck on a hot Nashville real estate market. We heard a lot about them in the press, hoping that the most vulnerable don’t lose even more.
At the same time, many members of our team were out in those same communities providing shoes and clothes to families left with nothing. We saw neighbors and volunteers from all over show up with food, water, chain saws, rakes, sponges, paper towels, diapers and truckloads more. Even in its chaos, it was hard not to be overwhelmed at the goodness of most people when the chips are down.
Ultimately, I believe the coronavirus pandemic will show us the same at a larger scale. There are scalpers selling hand sanitizer like it’s liquid gold and surgical masks like they’re woven of silver. But for every one of those wretched examples, there are ten times the number of “we”s and “all”s and “together”s and “for everyone”s. Mother Teresa said, “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”
Is it possible that a worldwide health crisis will be what reminds us of that beautiful truth? Maybe. Going into this pandemic, so many of us were focused on ourselves; in the thick of it, we’re starting to focus on each other instead. I hope it continues.
All of this isn’t meant to negate the real challenges we’re facing as a result of the pandemic. The fashion and retail industry has already been hard hit as stores, brands, design houses, runway events and fashion weeks have been forced to go dark. In my sector, we’re bracing for a slower season as donors grapple with serious losses in income and wealth.
It’s tough to plan when there are no answers. Uncertainty is unsettling, and it’s easy to become overwhelmed by the “what if”s. When we zoom out, it feels insurmountable. So at Soles4Souls, we’re choosing instead to zoom in. We’re focusing on the one single mother in Honduras who’s never not known fear. We’re thinking about the one child in Haiti who’s at risk of serious illness every day, pandemic or not. We’re exploring how we can continue to make a real and lasting difference — one pair of shoes at a time, one new entrepreneur at a time, one community at a time.
The fastest track to recovery from a catastrophe of this scale will undoubtedly be caring for one another, and we all have something to share: dollars, encouragement, a skill, a talent. We can all choose to act generously, even at a distance, and support one another in the ways that we have.
Our tagline at Soles4Souls is “Give shoes, give love.” While not a public health strategy, “give love” isn’t a bad way to navigate the rough waters ahead. It’s free and abundant, and the more we give, the more there is to give. When your instincts say “pull back,” but you follow your heart’s message, “push on ahead,” instead, that’s bold. And it’s what we need right now.
So, please, give love to whoever you can.
Buddy Teaster
Soles4Souls
soles4souls.org
