The Enormity of Small Things

The Enormity of Small Things

Greetings from my dining room! Like so many of you, I’m well into my fourth (or more) week of working from home. It’s an odd experience for someone who has never really teleworked. Sure, sometimes I do when traveling or at conferences, but rarely from home and never for days on end.

In my Marketer QuickLook columns, I keep you informed about what the SMPS Foundation is working on and how you can help us through your gifts. Be assured we’re still busy on our initiatives, and we’ll have plenty to talk about in the coming months. What I really want to talk about now, though, is resiliency—yours, that of our families and friends, and that of our fellow citizens.

Keeping up with all the coronavirus coverage right now, with all the different channels and how it’s filtered through the polarization of the current times, can feel overwhelming at times. When you come across a story, though, about how people are helping each other or how our medical communities and first responders are working like saints, it rekindles our belief in each other.

It might be a big story, such as clothing manufacturers rallying to produce the protective equipment hospitals need so badly. It might be a small one, such as the Tulsa Botanical Garden, which is closed to the public, harvesting all their blooming tulips and donated them to local hospitals just to help brighten things up for the patients. These stories can’t disguise the enormity of this pandemic or the heartache that it’s causing, but they’re a breath of fresh air in an incredibly difficult time.

In the movie, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” Mr. Rogers tells a journalist, “Just take a minute and think about all the people who loved us into being.” I’m so proud to be a member of the SMPS community and of the way our members are rallying around and supporting each other. Keep reaching out. Keep being there for others. Know that this will eventually turn the corner and when it does, even though it will be an all-new normal, you’ll have people who will continue to cheer you on.

I hope to see all of you soon. Please take care of yourselves and your families. Be safe, be smart and, of course, wash those hands!

Brad

 

SMPS Foundation President Brad Thurman, P.E., FSMPS, CPSM, is principal and chief marketing officer at Wallace Engineering in Tulsa, OK. He can be reached at bthurman@wallacesc.com.

 

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