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New Days: COVID-19 #10


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This may get me labeled cold, unfeeling, insensitive, thoughtless, heartless, unsympathetic, or worst of all, unempathetic. EGAD! But here it is:

I’m all set with folks moaning about the coronavirus.

I’m all set with folks in Camp A, complaining about ostensible infringements on their rights to gather and socialize freely without maintaining appropriate distances, without protective masks, gloves, hygiene, et al. I’m all set with the folks in Camp B, who are complaining that the folks in Camp A are allegedly infringing on their ostensible rights to be protected from the virus.

Granted, there are people suffering. There are people dying. There are people with underlying health conditions that give them significantly more susceptibility to the virus and significantly less control over their own fates. But, by any measure, those people are in a very small minority. The rest of us, the ones who constitute the huge majority, need to get a grip of our knickers.

The virus is not within our control. The governments are not. The accuracy of anything being reported is not. Our awareness of who’s pulling what strings or manipulating what circumstances for whatever agendas — hidden and otherwise — is not. The behavior of our family members, our friends, and our neighbors is not.

Ya know what’s within our control? We are. Our time is. Period.

Accordingly, I’d like to share a discovery and a suggestion: I discovered that, in the time I would otherwise have spent complaining about whatever the folks in Camps A and B are or are not doing, I was able to create the video embedded in this post. I suggest, therefore, that you watch it and try to engage in at least one of the activities suggested therein. Better yet, engage in any activity your heart desires.

The bad news is you won’t have much time for complaining. The good news is you’ll control what you can control.

If you’re not careful, you might even be happier.

Mark O'Brien
Mark O'Brienhttps://obriencg.com/
I’m a business owner. My company — O’Brien Communications Group (OCG) — is a B2B brand-management and marketing-communication firm that helps companies position their brands effectively and persuasively in industries as diverse as: Insurance, Financial Services, Senior Living, Manufacturing, Construction, and Nonprofit. We do our work so well that seven of the companies (brands) we’ve represented have been acquired by other companies. OCG is different because our business model is different. We don’t bill by the hour or the project. We don’t bill by time or materials. We don’t mark anything up. We don’t take media commissions. We pass through every expense incurred on behalf of our clients at net. We scope the work, price the work, put beginning and end dates on our engagements, and charge flat, consistent fees every month for the terms of the engagements. I’m also a writer by calling and an Irish storyteller by nature. In addition to writing posts for my company’s blog, I’m a frequent publisher on LinkedIn and Medium. And I’ve published three books for children, numerous short stories, and other works, all of which are available on Amazon under my full name, Mark Nelson O’Brien.

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