(December 8, 2020) I relived the pandemic while packing to move.

Each plate, bowl and glass got its own section of newspaper as I wrapped them and tucked them carefully inside boxes. Coffee mugs wrapped in January’s news — hints of a virus likely to spread widely. Ceramic pitchers padded in February’s announcements of infections and the first U.S. death. Next came bottles of spices and olive oil wrapped in the WHO’s proclamation that the virus had reached pandemic scale. Then came lockdowns, layoffs, business implosions and, finally, some promise of light at the end of the tunnel.

We went into the new year as we usually do, full of hope, ready for challenges and opportunities. And, we found both.

Like everyone else, I am ready to say good riddance to 2020. However, when we step back for a moment and reflect, it’s remarkable what we have learned and what we have accomplished.

First, we have learned that we are stronger than we thought we were, and that we are even stronger when we work together.

Each of us has strength we didn’t know we had. We didn’t need it, quite frankly, until this year, but when circumstances pinned us into a corner, we found determination and creativity sufficient to move forward. We discovered, in the midst of enormous challenge, what Thomas Edison meant when he said: “When you’ve exhausted all possibilities, remember: you haven’t.”

Second, we learned that we need very little to survive.

Throughout the pandemic, we have pared back many of the activities that filled our lives last year. We have spent less money on some of the odds and ends we generally give away or throw away. While we might miss some of these things and some of these activities, and while we may be eager for their return, we are fine. We have survived, and we are not diminished.

Third, we have learned we can work, learn and play at a distance.

Not all work, I realize, nor all learning, nor all play. But with imagination and willingness, we have been able to do more than we thought we could back in March. Fears that technology would isolate us from each other are unfounded. Had this pandemic occurred 30 years ago, we would have been isolated from each other for days on end. However, in 2020, we were able to quarantine and at the same time keep many aspects of life moving along.

And finally, we have learned that friends and family really are what matter most.

As the pandemic chiseled away at our social calendars, our work schedules and our weekend plans, many of us found ourselves reconnecting with a core circle of friends. We realized that the people who know us best and love us most were the ones who could help us stay balanced and keep our lives in perspective during these unusual times. Travel restrictions and limited crowd mandates did not prevent us from finding ways to stay close.

Wrapping dishes in back issues of newspapers gave me a whirlwind review of how far we have come in just a few months. It was strange to read articles from February and March having already lived through September and October. We know now what we did not know then, but we do not know today what lies ahead in February 2021, or April, or ….

We live our lives forward, as Soren Kierkegaard said, but only understand them in reverse. So, we need to be content to know very little. Yet, we can all hold on to what we have learned, those things that have carried us up to this point and that can, I believe, carry us farther still. We are stronger than we could ever have imagined, and even stronger together; we need very little to survive; we can work, learn and play at a distance; and friends and family are really what matter most.

One day, the COVID-19 pandemic will be the stuff of documentaries and history books, and our children will tell stories about it to their children. And soon, someone will wrap dishes in the yellowed pages of newspaper articles that report about vaccines, antibodies, of rebuilding society, and about a world made better because it struggled together.

This column by President David Johns appeared in The Roanoke Times and The Franklin News-Post. President Johns may be reached at president@ferrum.edu.

(August 26, 2020) As students move back to college this month, the usual excitement and bittersweet goodbyes are being seasoned with apprehension and whispered prayers.

None of us are naive, we know this is going to be challenging. We know we must take extra precautions. We know everything could turn on a dime at any moment, and we all know it’s not 2019 any longer!

Every one of our schools has developed contingency plans and scenarios ranging from the likely to the apocalyptic. We are well aware that as Theodore Roosevelt once remarked: “Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort.” Returning to college this fall is going to require effort because, at the end of the day, it is worth it.

And it is worth it for at least three reasons: students, colleges themselves, and the communities in which our colleges are located.

First, no one stands to lose more than students if our colleges do not return to campus activity.

While colleges learned how to serve their students in unfamiliar yet effective ways, and while faculty performed the Herculean task of transitioning to remote instruction, all this has taken a toll that is unsustainable and undesirable.

One third of students in Virginia attend an independent college like Ferrum College. Although many news articles focus on flagship public universities or elite private colleges, most independent colleges have modest resources and depend mightily on tuition dollars and philanthropy.

We enroll a greater percentage of minority students, first generation college students, and students from families with economic need than do the others. This is not a criticism, but it is a fact. Vulnerable women and men are left in the lurch when our campuses are shuttered. Additionally, rebuilding our economy after COVID-19 will require that students continue developing skills of resilience, critical and imaginative thinking, and civic engagement.

Second, the return must work for the sake of colleges themselves.

Colleges are businesses that have a fundamental social mission. During the pandemic, a few have written that any college unable to survive a couple semesters without students on campus should close. This is the most foolish and ill-informed statement anyone could make. No one would suggest that a grocery chain or a clothing manufacturer was irresponsible for needing to sell groceries or clothes to continue operating. That’s what they do. Likewise colleges and universities.

The economic havoc brought about by COVID-19 will destroy many small businesses, and some of these casualties will be colleges. Losing them will cause irreparable harm to freedom and opportunity. Thus, the return to college must work in order to preserve these champions of learning, support, research and culture.

When we reach the other side of this pandemic, we will need an educated and prepared workforce to help rebuild our country and position us for tomorrow. And to prepare these women and men, we need healthy colleges.

Third, the return must work for the communities where our colleges are located.

A college in any town is an economic boon. Many of our independent colleges are located in small towns where they are a major employer. Even a college the size of Ferrum has a $100 million impact in our region. The college helps to sustain business and livelihoods in this area, as do the others in their hometowns.

It is understandable that communities are apprehensive about the return. However, the long-term damage to our communities and to thousands of families will be extensive unless we find a way to make this work.

Let’s face it: unless we are willing to remain in absolute home lockdown–every one of us–for the next 12 months or longer, then we are acknowledging there are other social and economic concerns to be balanced in addition to caring for our health and slowing the virus. We have an obligation to sustain our communities and assure a stable economy.

So, while we know this will be a challenging semester requiring effort from everyone, it will be worth it on several fronts–for our students, our colleges and our communities. The only way for us not to be defeated by COVID-19 is to live, to thrive and to stay focused on things that matter. We must be cautious and conscientious, of course, but we cannot lock ourselves away cowering in fear. This pandemic will destroy us, but only if we permit it.

Hard does not mean impossible.

This column by President David Johns appeared in The Roanoke Times and The Franklin News-Post. President Johns may be reached at president@ferrum.edu.

(August 5, 2020) After COVID . . . What?

What awaits on the other side of COVID-19? We have all thought about it, whether out of weariness or a need to plan ahead. But, while we have imagined it, an answer is nowhere in sight.

It seems premature to ask the question because no one knows where we are on the timeline of the pandemic. If we have a vaccine in early 2021, five or six months from now, then at best we are only half way through. But are we closer to the end of the middle, or God forbid, the beginning? Regardless, it is worth thinking about what lies beyond COVID-19 since, sooner or later, we will be there. 

I have two concerns and two hopes as I think about our Post-COVID future.

My first concern is that social distancing will lead to social isolation.

We need to maintain physical distance to slow the spread of the virus. In order to do so, many businesses have sent employees home, schools have transitioned to online instruction, and communities have postponed or canceled events that often bring us together.

But distance leads to isolation when we forget the simple acts of common life. We have learned over the last few months that many of our regular activities and meetings can be conducted virtually. But how can we assure that community life thrives, and how can we be sure we are building a Post-pandemic life worth living?

My second concern is that by the time we reach the other side of COVID-19, we will have become an America fractured beyond recognition. Between daily gaslighting and politicizing this pandemic, a wedge is being driven into an already cavernous divide. The wedge is between two impulses at the heart of the American psyche – compassion for the Other, and individual liberty. 

At our best, Americans are generous people. We are present during crises at home and abroad, and we have given much for the sake of others. Yet, Americans can be stubbornly independent, regarding liberty as a license to do anything we want. Generally, we balance both impulses according to circumstance and need, but this wedge causes extremism leaving little room for compromise or restraint. 

Yet, in spite of these concerns, I have two hopes.

First, many things that were important a half year ago, seem less so today. The pandemic has kept us close to home, close to family, and close to those things as the center of our lives. Some of what consumed our time and resources, have faded into the background.

It can takes years to achieve the pared down lifestyle thrust upon us in just a few months. While it was uninvited and threw us off balance, we are living reprioritized lives, a little more grounded, and a lot less distracted. 

Thus, my first hope is that we maintain this hard eared perspective; if we can, then we will have gained something meaningful in exchange for the havoc this pandemic has brought us. 

My second hope is that COVID-19 will renew our commitment to each other and to the common good. 

We have been reminded that airborne pathogens do not seek permission before crossing barriers we erect. We have learned that reckless personal conduct causes lasting damage. And, we are learning that simple gestures, like wearing a mask in public, saves lives and slows a virus. 

Much of what makes our communities livable, from good roads, to schools and parks, to clean water, to healthcare are goods that benefit us all. Our wellbeing is wrapped up together, so if we want a good life for ourselves after COVID-19, we need to invest in each other. Our lives may run in different directions, but we all breathe the same air.

I’m not sure what lies on the other side of COVID-19, but whatever it is, it will not be something that simply happens to us. That’s not the way the future works. The future is something we create through our passion, our imagination, and our commitment. 

So, while it may seem a little early to speculate about what comes after COVID-19, we have work to do now. Allowing isolation and division to flourish will result in a future worse than any pandemic; however, if we stay grounded in what is important and lasting, and if we focus on the goods common to us all, we will build a Post-COVID future worth living.

This column by President David Johns appeared in The Roanoke Times and The Franklin News-Post. President Johns may be reached at president@ferrum.edu.