Big challenges lead to big opportunities

We sure are a resilient bunch. The coronavirus outbreak is likely the greatest challenge the world has faced. The economy is in shambles. Schools are closed, the health care system is overwhelmed. Many people are being told to stay home from work. But we are seeing more and more that big challenges also can lead to big opportunities. We are seeing it all around us on a daily basis. Schools have turned to distance learning. Employees are learning to work from home. Funerals can’t have visitors, so they are being live-streamed online. Companies which make things like vacuum cleaners are making face masks. Buildings are being repurposed into medical facilities. Graduation ceremonies are cancelled, so some teachers are driving by their student’s homes to send them off. Birthday parties are cancelled, so some communities are organizing parades, sending lines of cars and fire trucks past the home of the birthday boy. Yes, necessity is the mother of invention. Its nothing new. During World War Two, people started adding breadcrumbs to meatballs to ration them. The board game Clue was invented to combat boredom during air raids. Sometimes the worst can bring out our best, and as people struggle to soldier on during this latest threat, we continue to see plenty of evidence of that.