Being essential

We’re a few days into the state-mandated lockdown of sorts. Only essential employees can work outside the home. At Marist, we’re still “open for business” but with an extremely pared down staff. The majority of the athletics department staff – including the idiot head track coach and his otherwise erudite and loyal staff – are deemed non-essential and need to stay away from the McCann Center, the campus, really everywhere. I do not dispute this. This makes perfect sense. In fact, recent hints from some political leaders that we should ease social distancing and other restrictions might be, in my opinion, short-sighted and reckless. We need to suck it up in the short-term for more long-term benefit. I think. But, what do I know? Look, as you might be able to tell from my recent posts, I’m not thrilled about being mostly homebound. The “word” that comes to mind is “bleh” (probably not a word, but you get the idea). But hey, how I feel and what I think should be dwarfed by the greater good. Common sense dictates that.

Anyway, last week after Governor Cuomo – the nation’s governor! – came up with his decree that 100 percent of “non-essential” workers in our state should stay at home, my wife Heidi posted on Facebook: “I’m essential.” Meaning that her job was deemed exempt from the stay-at-home order. In truth, the list of “essential” work is rather lengthy, and it completely makes sense. But words matter, and being labeled as “essential” and “non-essential” can have existential impacts. I feel like what I do, while trivial to the greater good of our society as a whole, is important; to have it labeled “non-essential” kind of stings. But again, I’m a big boy. I’ll get over it. I’ll adapt. So, this morning, rather than mope around and whine about the two inches of icy snow encrusting our world up here, I drove my wife to her “essential” job over in Pleasant Valley. It felt good to get out, better to spend time with my wife on the 15-minute commute. We mostly listened to the radio and she was on her phone. But still. These abnormal times create abnormal routines.

Even as we are shut in and cooped up, we can all be “essential” in our own ways. My youngest son James watches a lot of YouTube videos on our TV in the family room downstairs, courtesy of a Firestick that we got from my nephew, who has a fancy job at Amazon out in San Francisco. One of the video “channels” we watch is called “Ascension Presents” and it features religious videos of a Catholic theme. Father Mike Schmitz is a favorite of ours and in one of his fast-talking vids he referred to the differences between our “sphere of interest” vs. our “sphere of influence.” Look, I don’t pretend to be a preacher or to even fully comprehend these Deep Thoughts, but this one resonated with me during these uncertain times. Hey, what are we all doing right now? Checking our social media feeds, checking news sites (I’ll admit, I must check the New York Times about a dozen times a day), turning on news channels to hear the latest briefings from the Important People. Our “sphere of interest” is large. We want to know what’s going on in our community, our state, our country, our world. As I was typing this, a notification just came across my laptop that the Summer Olympics would be postponed until at least the summer of 2021. You get the idea. Our “sphere of interest” is limitless – the world, even outer space. Our “sphere of influence” is a much tighter circle, one that we can control with our actions and our thoughts. As we are shut in, working on cultivating that “sphere of influence” becomes more challenging. Shoot a text, check in on someone. Make a call, check in on someone else – I think one unintended consequence of this crisis will be an increase in old-fashioned telephone calls! I hope I’m correct. Write a letter (imagine THAT). Stay connected. And when we come out of this, when it will be easier to create, cultivate and expand connections, remember that our “sphere of influence” matters far greater than our “sphere of interest.” In fact, our “sphere of interest” is mostly trivial. We are all consumers of information. Let’s all try better and harder to be curators of connection and impact and faith and love. End of sermon for now.