A wise world leader once said the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
Such has been difficult for many of us this week as we tried to make sense of Coronavirus and how it's going to impact our world.
Long lines at the stores, social distancing (do it), bans on large outdoor activities.
Yes, all the fun things in life we like to do are halted. At least for now.
But as that wise man inferred, letting our fears get the better of us will do only more harm than good. Fearing that we’ll never get to experience those things again just isn’t a healthy disposition.
We’ll get the chance to go back to DIsneyWorld and Six Flags, South by Southwest and much more one day, hopefully sooner rather than later.
That mentality fits just as perfectly for the world of sports, a medium that’s dropped off the radar within five days’ time.
And understandably so. Regardless of your political position, one must agree curbing the spread of this novel disease takes high priority above all else.
Where else can COVID-19 thrive more prevalently than a packed arena filled with 200 to 60,000 people?
Sadly, it means sports must hit the bench, at least for now. It’s the right thing to do, for society’s sake.
We will be taking a similar approach here at the Hays Free Press and News-Dispatch in our sports coverage in the coming weeks, too. Through at least March 31, we will be scaling back sports coverage due in part to the UIL’s decision to halt all competition until that point.
But perhaps more importantly, we feel it necessary to give our outstanding news team the page space and resources available to keep our readership abreast of this rapidly evolving situation.
Obviously, we are praying for a speedy resolution to this global issue. Once that happens, it’s our hope that we can cover our talented local high school athletes back on the field, representing our communities with pride.
It’s okay to feel a little uneasy. Strange times, these are.
But to fear that we will never get back to normal is just not true.
While it might take some time to get there, normalcy will return.
So please sit back, stay home and be safe. We'll get through this together.
We will persevere.
Thank you and we’ll see you in a few weeks.
