I’ll be succinct, the word “cancel” grates on me.[i] I have heard it over and over again in the
last several weeks. This event is “cancelled”,
that graduation is “cancelled”, and on and on.
In the face of the current pandemic, this is somewhat inevitable that
some things will have to be “cancelled”.
But without question, “cancelling” should be the last resort right now.
This is because “cancel” means a lot of things and none of
them are hopeful. “Cancel” means that
there isn’t an alternative, it is just not going to happen. “Cancel” means that we quit, we give up, we just
can’t envision another way to go. “Cancel”
means we are so afraid and frozen that we give up. “Cancel” is final, there is no turning back, there
will be no more planning or effort made to resuscitate the activity or action
or anything else. It’s done, it’s over,
start your mourning process now: “cancelled”.
Such was the way I felt when I received this
message via email on 13 March from the USGBC.
While many of us were in the midst of many decisions about
the response to the then impending crisis we are now in, the USGBC wiped the
entire calendar clean.[ii] As I articulated in an email to the USGBC
leadership, “this seems too far reaching, too early.” This message basically said, “we surrender”,
before the battle was even being fought.
I wasn’t and am not happy about this, but also about a large number of
other “cancelations” that have occurred in recent weeks. It just seems that they all just took too quick
a turn, an unwarranted run and hide approach, without candid deliberation and
any sense of resilience, resolve, or thought about the psychological and sociological
impacts of “cancelling” life as we knew and know it.
Now in writing this, please know that I am NOT saying we
ought to be putting our heads in the sand and acting like there isn’t a global,
national, and local pandemic happening.
Quite the opposite. As I wrote
some three days after this email,[iii] we needed to curtail any
non-essential in-person contact in the near term. So what I am advocating here isn’t a flippant,
ignorant, “go about the business” message.
No, what I am trying to say is that there are numerous things that can
be done besides “cancel”, and every one of them should be considered well ahead
of “cancel”.
So what are those alternatives? Well, let us list the ways. You could:
- Modify the event such that any of those that do need to physically be present are protected but allow for the event to continue;
- Reschedule the event to a later date some weeks or months hence, especially if there is particular reasons that it should be in person regardless;
- Move the event, if it makes sense and is respectful of all those involved, to an online format;[iv]
- Consider smaller, distributed or otherwise reduced events or activities that may include all of the above or other approaches;
- Seek out a partnership with an event later in the year to enhance and improve through what your event was trying to do;
- Suspend decision/delay on the action or event until more clarity can be found with the intent of returning to it or otherwise addressing it once more clarity is present;
- And many more.
Any of the above are better than “cancel”. Will there come a time to “cancel” things? Absolutely.
As I said, however, that needs to be THE LAST RESORT.
Look, in times of crisis, we have many things happening at
once, some good and some bad. As articulated
well by our Bishop James Hazelwood, our reaction to those crises has a large
impact on the outcome of said events.[v] He states to the Pastors of the New England
Synod of the ELCA:
“In the midst of any challenging
situation, there is a mathematical equation to which I always refer:
Event
|
=
|
Outcome
|
Response
|
The “Event” can be anything, for
example, from a budget shortfall.... to a family dynamic.... to a virus. These are real events. The “Response” refers to the response of the
person, organization, or organism. If
you recall your 8th grade math class, the bottom factor, the denominator, has
significant influence on the outcome. We may not be able to change the event,
but we can have an impact through our response.
All this is to say, that you as leaders have an important role in this
or any destabilizing event: If you are
calm, wise and thoughtful, that will impact how an event plays out in your
congregation. Therefore, in this time of
the coronavirus, I encourage you to balance the need for thoughtful decisions
around worship practices and congregational gatherings, with the need for calm
and less reactive responses.”[vi]
While directed to religious leaders, this sentiment and formulation
applies to all of us. What I would add to
this is that in times of crisis, what is really important to consider, is the
hope vs. fear dynamic. “Cancelling” is
demonstrative of either prudence or fear.
Putting forth an alternative is demonstrative of prudence AND hope. Yes, there is the inevitable less than perfect
nature of an online worship service or a classroom through Zoom, but it isn’t
quitting. When the world is anything but
normal, doing what you can to keep things as safely-normal as possible brings
hope.
Among the many things I do, is I help to schedule, along
with a colleague of mine at SUNY Potsdam, the North Country Green Drinks events.[vii] We held our last session on 12 March, where
we indicated that people should take precautions but to join as they were
able. For the upcoming sessions, however
(the next one is scheduled for 9 April), I sent out a revised invitation moving/transforming
it into a virtual happy hour via a link that I sent to all of the normal
participants. Karen Bage, whom I have
worked with professionally on several projects related to complete streets and
active transportation, nearly immediately replied by email with the
following: “THANK YOU!! For keeping this alive during this challenging
time” (emphasis hers). This is a perfect
example of what I am getting at here.
Yes, we are stressed, we are struggling to deal with changes big and
small, and we feel overwhelmed. “Cancelling”
these social events would have been the easy answer. But, I, for one, need to have space to gather
with those that are also going through similar struggles and I need some things
in my life not to be “cancelled”. We all
need hope, we need purpose, and we all need each other. So I’ll grab a mug and pop a brewsky and
log-into the session on Thursday with some sense of joy that we can still
gather, even if it will be an unruly, surreal, virtual affair.
Similarly, I have to applaud Clarkson University’s hesitance
to hit the “cancel” button as we have proceeded through these last few weeks. Yes, it has drug out decisions over weeks as
we carefully consider and weigh the approaches, but we did not immediately
announce that we will be having a “virtual commencement” or that commencement was
“cancelled”. Rather we have taken a
rather pragmatic and carefully cautious approach. As of Wednesday night a survey had been sent
to all of the various groups effected in order to poll them to see which way we
should go, now that it appears that having an in person commencement on 16 May
20 is less likely. As of this writing, I
am uncertain of the poll results, but among the choices were several options
and none of them were to “cancel” commencement.
Given the nature of this momentous event in a young person’s life, I was
so glad to see that we are being judicious and wise in avoiding the easy
impulse to “cancel” in the face of uncertainty, fear, and challenge. Simply put it is the harder right over the
easier wrong.
So to conclude, let’s not cancel everything. Yes, be prudent and safe. Be frank and honest about the real consequences
and the real devastation that is happening and will happen. But, also demonstrate resolve, be courageous
enough to not quit. Avoid “cancel” at
all costs. Find a way, a safe,
appropriate way to carry on; “stay calm and carry on” the saying goes. And if you do have to go to “cancel” do it
only when you have to and do it in a way that really is caring, concerning and
instilling hope no matter what. I have
hope. There will be a world after this pandemic, this is not the end or even
the worst, even as it is deadly serious.
We can do this and we can win the battle, we just have to be willing to
not give into the fear, and not “cancel” without our best fight first.
[i]
As does the idea of “cancel culture”, but that is for another time.
[ii]
And further forbade planning for anything at the community level for the
balance of the year.
[iii]
See my previous blog entry: http://backusec.blogspot.com/2020/03/resilience-in-age-of-covid-19.html
[iv]
And by the way, Zoom isn’t the only online platform or even the best; you may want
to consider several others.
[vi]
Ibid.
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