“A guide to good times.” That was Out & About’s tagline in the early years. It pains me to think how inappropriate that tagline would be right now.
For that matter, same goes for our name. “You should rename it In & Alone,” one reader offered. Ha-ha…very funny.
So, as we struggled to figure out what to do with this issue, struggled with the possibility that for the first time in more than 31 years we wouldn’t produce an issue (let’s face it, much of our client base is closed due to the Emergency Declaration), we decided to move forward—respectfully.
We felt people could use a little O&A positivity as the days and weeks go on. Especially if we could provide useful positivity. We hope you find that in the pages that follow.
Personally, I hope we also find wisdom in this crisis —even some silver linings. Pontificating is prevalent right now; however, passing judgment on who is most deserving of support or how businesses should conduct themselves are tricky endeavors. If you’ve never had to make payroll, now is not the time to tell businesses how they should make theirs. Ditto for virtually every other challenge.
The pain is ubiquitous. And no one’s pain is more severe than another’s. Which, to me, could be the indelible silver lining in all of this. Now…we ALL know real pain.
Oh, many of us have been great sympathizers for years—I feel your pain, man—then we simply go about our day. It’s understandable—you can’t carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. But did we truly feel their pain? We appreciated, sympathized, commiserated, empathized…but the pain wasn’t ours. Now it is.
Which hopefully leads to more community, greater compassion, less greed. It’s quickly become cliché, but today we truly are in this together. It’s troubling to consider that it took a pandemic to remind us of that. But if we’re being honest—and right now, why pull punches?—perhaps it did.
