Among the many takeaways from our bout with the coronavirus is this: The future defies prediction. However, while we cannot predict the future, we can exert some degree of control over what we believe will happen and what we are going to do with that belief.
As I write this article, it is late March. Neither the coronavirus infection rate nor the extent of damage to our economy has reached its peak; grocery shelves that normally bulge with bathroom tissue and paper towels are too often barren; and a statewide stay-at-home order is in effect.
Looking forward, I cannot know what is going to happen or when, but here is what I strongly believe: Things will get better. I hope that, by the time you open this magazine, the infection rate will be flattening, or we will be near the other side of the curve – maybe even declining.. This virus will burn itself out, workers will return to their jobs, students to school, worshipers to church, the stock market will improve, and as a society we will settle in to a new normal – perhaps wiser and more cautious than we were a couple of months ago, and ready to move forward.