By KIKI TIDWELL
Spring slack used to be an accepted way of life here back when I moved here in 1981. Everyone planned for it; after ski season, the restaurants and bars closed, and the locals tried to get to Mexico for some sun after the long winter. Tumbleweeds rolled down the main street of Ketchum. We didn’t really even have much of a summer business for many, many years.
The difference today is that we have developed much more of a year-round economy and people haven’t planned to have no work and no business for several months like they used to. The coronavirus pandemic is sending us into The Big Slack anyway.
However, we have strengths and assets here now that we didn’t used to have. When I moved here, there weren’t even fax machines. Now, many people can stay employed through home computers and be connected to people needing their gig, piecework or full-time services through sites like UpWork. I have employed a mom in Denver who I found on UpWork who helps me with my WordPress site on about an hour-per-week basis. I would love to find a social media person here locally for my Instagram.
We also have residents and part-time residents who may have planned to not be here during the spring months, traveling or whatever, but who are now here for the duration of the virus. They may be in that higher-risk age bracket, but 70 is the new 40, and they are in much better health and have the energy and time now on their hands to volunteer and give back. Many certainly have some financial abundance to share; this has been demonstrated in our community by support for so many nonprofits and capital campaigns in recent years. For those folks, please see the fine print below as to how you can help.
We have fresh air and sunshine! It is turning out to be very important that our air is not polluted like Wuhan. Most of all, we have a small-town community mindset where we consistently look out for each other.
Okay, so now is the time for our community to start with our strengths and pull together for each other. I have listened to pundits say that what we are going to be facing now will be most similar to what America faced in the outbreak of World War II in terms of sacrifice, disruption, and uncertainty. I believe that we will have it better, as China has given us an example that, if we are aggressive in our response, we can limit the immediate disruption to a matter of months. When the War started, people had no idea how long it was going to be and if their home was going to be invaded.
My mom was a six-year-old in Honolulu when Pearl Harbor was bombed. Her father ran into her Sunday school class and threw her and her brother and sister into their car and drove like a bat-out-of-hell while anti-aircraft bombs fell on the street behind them. The military erected barbed wire almost overnight on the beach of their beachfront home. Within about a week, I believe, my grandmother had to evacuate with her children to the mainland in a lumbering old seaplane. Decades later, my usually-gruff grandfather cried as he told me how he watched the plane struggle to gain altitude over the ocean as it took his family away for an unknown period of time. It turned out to be years.
We have faced worse and have risen to the challenge; we can do this. The absolute first thing we can do for each other is to actually stay home. If you have the slightest sore throat or cough or fever, DO NOT just ignore it and go to the grocery store or work anyway. You have to self-isolate! Someone’s life could depend on it. As well, information is coming out that people may not have symptoms but they may have the virus and may be spreading it unknowingly, especially 20-somethings. If you have traveled to or come from another area that has experienced many cases, perhaps self-quarantine even without symptoms for 14 days. A period of time of being homebound is a relatively small sacrifice that will make a big difference in the big picture of how we can defeat the spread of the disease. More in next week’s column about how county government can help (BC started with live-streaming meetings finally!) but for now, let’s face this Big Slack by each doing what we can individually. And maybe dig out the old Western bandana you have in a back drawer and use it around town—to cover your nose and mouth, but also as a fashion statement that “we’ve got this.”
The fine print—for those who can: We want our restaurants and shops to survive! For those restaurants that will choose to stay open, perhaps we can support them by ordering take-out and tipping at least 30 percent on the order or by buying gift certificates over the phone. I have heard of people giving lump-sum cash to a restaurant owner to spread among the staff. And speaking of service people, what about sending your annual Christmas tip now to your manicurist, hairstylist, masseuse, or other person who makes your life better with their services? Once the snow melts, take that first fly-fishing lesson, or guided mountain bike ride that you haven’t quite found time for. Buy that e-bike you were thinking about.
We can give our usual year-end or extra charitable donations now—to arts organizations, to nonprofits, and especially to The Senior Connection, which is providing meals to the elderly. The Hunger Coalition would most appreciate cash donations rather than food donations as they can buy efficiently. If shops are open, maybe use that travel money you were going to spend to walk into five shops you haven’t been in before and purchase something. (Please use Purell before shopping!)
Spend this time at home to use local labor to get to home projects that have been on your wish list for a while, whether it is solar panels on your roof, or help with reorganizing files and clutter.