March Column Winner

Staying informed, encouraged and relaxed

By Art Haddaway, Owasso Reporter

The last couple weeks have played out like a scene from a post-apocalyptic movie.
That’s a sentence I never thought I would have to write.
Local retailers have limited their clientele, restaurants have shut down and gone to curbside or delivery services, and residents have retreated inside their homes to avoid social interaction — so much for a good start to 2020.
It all happened so fast: One minute I’m familiarizing myself with the term “coronavirus,” and the next I’m juggling sources and rushing through stories trying to play catchup with every update thrown my way.
Covering this pandemic is a first for me, and it’s probably a first for many people, especially my media counterparts — and we news folk see a lot. I’ve been in the throes of devastating flooding and tornadoes, police standoffs, teacher walkouts and more, but this one takes the cake.
It’s uncharted territory, and we’re all in a sort of limbo awaiting the next bit of news (hopefully good) from medical experts and government officials.
The numbers of COVID-19 are sobering: As of Monday, March 23, Tulsa County has seen 11 positive cases and one death; Oklahoma has confirmed 81 cases and two deaths; the U.S. has encountered 41,511 positive cases and 573 deaths; and globally, there are a reported 372,563 positive cases and 16,381 deaths, according to the Tulsa Health Department, Oklahoma State Department of Health and Associated Press.
Skeptics look at those figures and underestimate the true scale of the spread; others see them and exacerbate the details, convincing themselves and others that this is end of human kind.
Either way you break it down, this is a trying time that should be taken seriously, but one that I’m certain we’ll bounce back from, much wiser and stronger than before.
In the days ahead, my hope is to keep you up to date with the latest information about the pandemic, but to also share stories of hope amid the chaos. It’s important to stay informed, but it’s equally if not more important to stay encouraged.
Whether you’re hunkered down at home or stuck in your cubicle at the office, use this hiatus to do something productive and refreshing rather than exhaust yourself by worrying and criticizing.
My plan: to put pen to paper (of course), but to finish “Into the Wild” written by Jon Krakauer, make s’mores by the fire pit, binge-watch “The Office” with my wife, eat some delicious local takeout and catch upon some much-needed R&R.
Oh, and to pray. The world needs a lot of bent-knee intercessions with the man upstairs right about now.