Cooperative Living May 2020 - 4

ViewPoint | by Richard G. Johnstone Jr., Executive Editor
Vol. 74, No. 5
ISSN 1529-4579
RICHARD G. JOHNSTONE JR.
Executive Editor
BILL SHERROD
Senior Editor
STEVEN JOHNSON
Editor
LAURA EMERY
Field Editor
JANET BAILEY
Production Manager
JOHN GROTT
Production Coordinator
JIM ROBERTSON
Creative Services Specialist
TOMMY CAMPBELL
Design & E-Media Coordinator
AMANDA S. CUNNINGHAM
Advertising Sales
NINA JACOBS
Administrative Coordinator
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Published by the VA, MD & DE
Association of Electric Cooperatives
FLETCHER B. JONES
Chairman
PATRICIA S. DOREY
Vice Chair
RUSSELL G. BROWN
Secretary/Treasurer
RICHARD G. JOHNSTONE JR.
President & CEO
Board of Directors: R. Wayne Browning, Belvin Williamson,
Jr., A&N; C. Michael Sandridge, Michael J. Keyser, BARC;
George N. Goin, Gary E. Wood, Central Virginia; Robert E.
Arnold, Micheal E. Malandro, Choptank; Jeannette S. Everett,
Steven A. Harmon, Community; James E. Huffman, Jeff
M. Ahearn, Craig-Botetourt; Patricia S. Dorey, J. William
Andrew, Delaware; Fletcher B. Jones, John C. Lee Jr.,
Mecklenburg; Russell G. Brown, Greg W. White, Northern Neck;
Wade C. House, Stan C. Feuerberg, Northern Virginia; Dale
McNiel, Randell Meyers, Powell Valley; Herbert R. Patrick,
Casey J. Logan, Prince George; Linda R. Gray, Kent D. Farmer,
Rappahannock; Larry C. Howdyshell, Michael W. Hastings,
Shenandoah Valley; Frank W. Bacon, Jeffrey S. Edwards,
Southside.
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they are asked to inform the Editor.
'Every Storm ...
Runs Out of Rain'
Across a globe shrunken by technology and travel, a monstrous
monsoon is soaking the landscape, the torrential rains of COVID-19
taking from us precious moments ... jobs ... lives. But no matter how
powerful the storm, every downpour ends and the sun shines again.
A
lmost 60 years on, it remains a vivid
memory.
In the early weeks of first-grade in
Tampa, Miss Rogers was a cheerful presence.
Until one day. Her tone somber, her smile gone,
she asked us to play a new game. Not " hide and
seek, " but instead, " duck and cover. " At her
signal, we ducked quickly under our desks,
knees folded, faces down, arms covering heads.
Perhaps more puzzling than this unfamiliar
game was the dog tag each of us was given,
stamped with name, address and blood type.
Dangling from a metal beaded chain, we were
told to wear it daily, around our necks. Few small
children of the time questioned the instructions
of adults, certainly not teachers, police officers,
ministers or doctors. So, I remember viewing
this shiny rectangle as a cool connection with
the soldiers on my favorite TV show, " Combat. "
Years later I learned its purpose, as grim
for us first-graders as for those soldiers:
to provide the compressed particulars of
a young life. If alive, to save it; if gone,
to identify it.
Even for my young self, those 13 days
in October 1962, dubbed the Cuban Missile
Crisis, had a palpable cast over them. Of anxiety,
worry, fear.
Now 64, I'm witness to a more ominous
sense of anxiety, worry, fear ... pervading the
public square. Of course, the public square is
not as public nowadays. New phrases have
entered our lexicon. " Self-quarantine. " " Shelter
in place. " " Social distancing. " All describe our
efforts to " flatten the curve, " and lessen the
impact of the pandemic.
The downpour from COVID-19 is like a
monstrous monsoon, soaking the landscape,
its torrential rains taking from us precious
moments ... jobs ... lives.
It's a crisis like no other. But so too were
other crises: World Wars I and II. The Great
Depression. 9/11. We Americans have faced
all of them with grit and tenacity, and most
importantly, unity. And we're facing COVID-19
the same way.
In traveling together through this terrible
storm, we will emerge stronger, wiser and
2
more united than ever.
That's the cooperative way. That's the way
your member-owned electric cooperative has
served your community for 80-plus years,
providing reliable, affordable power.
Your cooperative has been there, through
a world war, three wars in Asia, one in the
Middle East, a depression and multiple
recessions, and lots of peaceful and prosperous
times, too. Through it all, the employees,
elected directors and member-consumers of
your electric cooperative have lived and worked
together, in the same community, with a
shared commitment to their shared home.
Yet, even in close-knit communities such
as ours, we must be properly cautious of
temptations that naturally arise during
extraordinary emergencies. The temptation
to hoard. To become insular. To forget about
neighbors. To forget that the civility we
practice so easily during good times
becomes a signature test of our character
during times like this.
In our big, boisterous, diverse
American family, now celebrating 231 years
together, a common core of shared values,
and a shared respect for them, has been essential
for our success, even at times for our survival.
History's call to us - now, today - is not
merely to be cautious, but to remain neighborly,
to help where we can in our community, to
care about the wider world. And to remember
that good times and bad both have a limited
shelf life.
A few years ago, country music artist Gary
Allan co-penned and recorded a song that's a
near-perfect metaphor for today's crisis. In the
first line of the chorus, he sings, " Every storm
runs, runs out of rain. "
And today's storm, terrible as it is, will, too.
Then tomorrow, while dark clouds recede
and the sun reappears, we'll emerge: to grieve ...
to console ... to survey ... to rebuild. Together.
" Every Storm (Runs Out of Rain) " Songwriters:
Hillary Lindsey, Gary Allan, Matt Warren
©Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., BMG Rights
Management, CRYSTAL BEACH MUSIC.
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Cooperative Living May 2020

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