How We’re Living: “We’re All In This Together, Like It Or Not”

In these challenging, unprecedented times, we are all dependent on each other—how I behave affects your health and how you behave affects mine. We must realize we are all in this together, whether we like it or not.

Professionally, I have spent most of my life in service to others with 30 years working for the government as a Civl Servant, and I’ve spent a lifetime training mostly teenage amateur boxers and a few pros along the way always with the goal of trying to impact as many young lives a possible. Our gym, Be First Boxing, in Peekskill, NY, like most businesses, has been closed due to the Coronavirus.

In order to keep some semblance of normalcy and to keep our members feeling healthy and not so disconnected, we are now conducting individual one-on-one workouts outdoors in a local park. Of course, with all the necessary precautions we are all wearing masks and are observing the proper social distancing during these modified workouts.

As for my personal life, anxieties are running high in my family. My wife is an International Flight Attendant which puts both of us as high risk for exposure. To make matters worse her airline—one of the largest in the nation—is feeding their employees mis-information.

She arrived at JFK Thursday night from Paris and was told she would be met by the CDC for a reading of her temperature. All passengers had temperatures taken, but the flight crew was exempt. She and the rest of the crew were free to go through customs without being checked at all. Yet on other flights from the same airline crew members from other European destinations had their temperatures read.

We also have a son who lives in Manhattan who fears he may have already been exposed. I told him there was no sense in coming back to the suburbs now and he needed to just shelter in place as the Governor ordered, but to check in with us regularly and let us know how he is feeling.

Even more challenging has been the dilemma of how to take care of my very elderly parents who rely on me as their primary caregiver. I go to their apartment dressed as if I have the virus even though I am asymptomatic.

I know there are many out there who are dealing with far greater hardships than I. So please, if you know someone who is elderly or compromised in some way or they are alone knock on their door or give them a call to see if you can help.

So, as stated before, we are all in this together and the sooner we realize that as a nation the sooner we will get through this. Stay positive!