Good news!
Depending on your favorite source of information, virus numbers are waxing or waning; it’s no big deal, or we’re all about to die; masks will stop the virus in four to eight weeks, or we’re all about to die; businesses are recovering, or they’re all about to die; we’re going to go off the edge of our flat earth (likely die? One assumes that’s not a good thing.); even the weather seems focused on either drowning or baking us, and many other dire scenarios we are either facing or soon will. It seems to me that the “we’re all about to die” thing is a common theme anymore.
I often think of how much simpler it was to live at some point in the past, but then name a time in history when it was “easy”? Cave men had a simple life all except for that really short lifespan and the sabre-tooth tiger outside the cave thing. The era of castles, kings, and chivalry has always fascinated me. But then we had a plague or two, abysmal living conditions for most, serfs being enslaved for the most part by knights, knights by the king and the whole constant holy war thing. In the 1800s we tore apart our country with hundreds of thousands of our countrymen killing one another, sometimes tens of thousands in a single day, and toss in a few more plagues for good measure world-wide. The early- to mid-1900s brought us two world wars and more military conflicts than one can track. Recovering from the wars the ’50s brought an amazing quality of life for many Americans, yet we still suffered racism and inequality for women and other minorities. The ’60s brought free love, rock-n-roll, Woodstock, and Vietnam, which drove us right into AIDS and… goodness, shouldn’t we all be dead once or twice by now?
I mentioned good news. We’re all still here. I’m very sure there are many of us that are not enjoying being homebound, wearing masks, or any part of this somehow political pandemic. We’re still here. I chatted with a friend from Venezuela who related going out of your home there (even to see a doctor) could result in death, not from a virus, just because some soldier decided to shoot you. We’re still here.
Good news? The Chamber has now had three wonderful events where we were “live” and you could just feel how badly people wanted to be in proximity to other humans. Our Meeting of the Membership went very well and those in attendance stayed and talked. Little of that conversation was business. We missed one another and the good news is, we’re still here.
The Chamber, that is. Yes, times are tough and like other businesses, we’ve tightened our belts and our amazing member/partners have stepped forward to sponsor events and assist in our survival. We’ve tried very hard to do that for our members; while not financially supporting them, doing all we can to market their story and drive business. It’s what we do.
My request is for you to consider supporting the Chamber when we call for you to sponsor an event. We’ll make sure to market for you as hard as we can, giving you value.
The good news? We’re still here. We want you here, too!
Botetourt County Chamber of Commerce
