Have you ever spent much time thinking about the difference between being proactive and reactive? I certainly have, because my graduate classes years ago (while working on my masters degree in education and taking communication studies courses along with it) forced me to think about that contrast. You can also think about it from a creative writing/fiction standpoint with characters. In stories, movies, TV shows, etc. people tend to like proactive characters more than reactive characters because the proactive ones are taking responsibility and direction for the action in the world around them.
Thus far our supposed political leaders have been very reactive, not proactive. Take Texas Gov. Abbott for example. Instead of proactively getting in front of the pandemic issues, he has allowed himself to fall behind and thus the virus infection numbers have spiraled out of control here in Texas.
Today brought good news. It looks like Gov. Abbott may at least be reacting in a way that helps.
He seems to be wanting to finally try to stop the hospitals from overcrowding with coronavirus cases. It's still a reactive measure, rather than a proactive one, but it's better than nothing.
In my email I found an article from the Dallas Morning News adding that "He also announced Thursday that he's pausing any further reopening of businesses and other public activities until Texas can 'corral' a recent surge in COVID-19 infections." Does that include opening the public schools? If so, then thank goodness I finally have some hope that our leaders will make a good decision about this fall.
I'm so worried about the children, the students, all of the staff and teachers planned to go back to work in-person in the fall with schools reopening. That includes being worried for myself, of course. One huge complication in this whole mess is that school districts are being so reactive, having waited all summer for news from Gov. Abbott and TEA about funding and attendance.
I've read about colleges having these same issues. MIT, a university full of genius-level faculty and students even attempted to crowdsource the problem and couldn't come up with a good answer. That's because there isn't one. And that's what people are having trouble accepting. We have to pick a bad option. We just need to pick the bad option that minimizes people getting sick, getting huge medical bills, and dying.
Today my hope is feeling a little more alive than it has been lately. I even cooked one of my favorite meals, some cheeseburger helper.
Be safe out there (and I'll be safe in here)!
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