Sunday is Mother’s Day. To all the moms (and dads who fill that role) out there, I wish you a happy day and offer gratitude for what you do.
mc-opinion
We are beginning to look toward making a way back to our normal lives. More likely, we will find ways to a new normal. It does not appear it will be done quickly as the COVID-19 virus threat still exists.
I hope you are among the lucky ones who are quarantined at home with someone you love. I can’t imagine the feelings of loneliness that would come with being truly self-isolated.
The newspaper or news website you are reading is in trouble. Like many other businesses, the COVID-19 crisis has eliminated most of its revenue but not its expenses, delivering a body blow to a business model that was already under pressure. But it continues to publish, providing your community with timely, accurate information about the crisis.
Like most of you, I am missing time spent in the great outdoors.
As I write this commentary, the majority of businesses other than grocery and hardware stores, gas stations and convenience stores are shuttered. I realize that this pandemic is serious and will likely cause many to suffer the illness and many will die from it. However, I don’t believe it is necessary to shut down the entire U.S. economy.
As we stay home for Nevada, we are renewing interest in old hobbies, taking up new ones and devoting time to things we never seemed to have enough time for before. We are exercising. We are cleaning. We are doing home-improvement projects. And we are cooking.
To say I’ve always been anxious to get things done is an understatement. It probably started when I was about 10 years old and began working in my grandmother’s grocery store. I had to be quick when it came to waiting on customers, bagging groceries, taking their money, making change and waiting on the next customer.
Although the resort-hotels of my company, Las Vegas Sands, are shuttered, I’m paying every one of our nearly 10,000 employees as though they were still working. We’re even working to make up for lost tips. I hope to do that right up until the time that we can reopen our businesses.
In the 1970s, I listened as a lecturer explained that in police work it seemed as though 20 percent of the population hated the police no matter how well they performed, 20 percent loved them no matter how poorly they did and the remaining 60 percent stayed on the fence to gather facts before reacting. I realized how true that is the older I got.
We need our better selves now as we deal with the COVID-19 virus. The response from our community has been overwhelmingly supportive of the efforts to fight this disease and protect our families, friends, co-workers and neighbors. I am not surprised that we are rising to this challenge as this community has always shown our strength when challenges arose. I am deeply appreciative of these efforts in this situation.
“There is more than one way to skin a cat.” It’s an unusual phrase that dates back to the early 1600s. It is a saying often used to explain that there is more than one way to reach a goal or solve a problem.
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