It ain't easy, is it? We the people of these United States find ourselves waist-deep in the muck and mire of some historically trying times. The easy thing to do? Panic. Curl ourselves up into little balls and convince ourselves that having reached the threshold of the end of days, nothing we can do and nothing we can say can save us. Right?
Nope. Not even close. That attitude is worse than simply wrong. It is bullshit. Pure, unexpurgated bullshit. Truthfully, it is worse than simply bullshit. It is dangerous. It is dangerous because it is self-defeating. Worse yet, it is dangerous because it is contagious. Panic is, itself, a virus. Succumbing to it is dangerous, and can be catastrophic or, even, fatal. Do not do it. Ever. If you woke up this morning in desperate need of encouragement or inspiration to pick your head up and carry on, then for you I offer three words from the damnedest drill instructor the United States Army ever produced - Sgt. Hulka:
Stay positive. If you cannot find an example of someone doing just that, even in these trying times, then you are simply not looking hard enough. Such people are everywhere. Literally and figuratively.
One such person is Tim Koether. Mr. Koether owns Claremont Distillery in Fairfield, New Jersey. This week, Claremont is producing exactly zero gallons of vodka, bourbon, and moonshine. Instead, Claremont is producing hand sanitizer. According to Mr. Koether, the idea came to him in response to his wife's anxiety at not being able to buy hand sanitizer. Once he settled upon making it for her, he decided to simply expand his plan and make it in volume. He is not making it to sell it. Rather, Claremont Distillery shall donate all of the hand sanitizer it produces. Mr. Koether is doing what he is doing for no reason other than it seemed to him that it was the correct thing to do.
Mr. Koether is doing more than simply doing the right thing. He is giving the rest of us a reason to believe. These days, nothing is more important.
-AK
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