Legacy

A YEAR. We are now officially one calendar year; 52 weeks, 365 days, one complete orbit of our celestial home around the sun, since COVID-19 was officially declared a pandemic and began to change society in ways that we are still grasping to understand. I can still recall that first week of quarantine vividly. I remember the uncertainty, the fear, the clearly tangible lack of solid information we had to work with as our normal lives quickly warped and twisted into something new… something unknown and foreign.

Looking back on that initial period now, our outlook seemed quaint, almost child -like even. We were sure things would only last a few weeks, maybe a month at most. Some even had the audacity to say that this was nothing more than a slightly deadlier flu variant. Then professional sports shut down, followed by schools, businesses, and essentially every other node of normal society as we knew it at the time. Phrases like “social distancing” and “flattening the curve” became part of our everyday vernacular. At this point, mask were barely an idea, let alone a national mandate. We had absolutely no idea the journey that lay in store.

Weeks slowly turned to months, and we began to realize things were not going to shift toward normalcy any time soon. Humanity started to pivot, trying it’s best to adapt and perservere. We were all in over our heads, we had entered unknown terrain without any beta or even a roughly sketched map. However, the alternative to unknown action was apathetic complacency and this was certainly not a viable option in our journey.

So we began innovating. We started thinking, acting, and interacting in radically new ways. We made it work. We tried new things and tinkered with technology until we found a usable means to accomplish the ends. This is when the ingenuity of the human spirit started to manifest itself, showing us that while the circumstances were indeed unheard of, the sheer Will of humanity could not be extinguished so easily.

Lo and behold, our efforts were fruitful. While the intricate systems we established to compensate for in person interaction had their flaws, they allowed us to carry on. We learned to deal with the minor annoyances, for these allowed us to manage and navigate the new landscape that was quickly forming around us. We accepted new societal norms, albeit with some resistance of course. While this was clearly the most significant and challenging event humans have had to contend with in several decades, we endured. I would take it a step further and wage that not only did we endure, we evolved.

At this point, now a full rotation of the astrological wheel since the beginning of the pandemic, we as a society have grown and matured quite profoundly. This virus has shown us just how resilient and resourceful humanity can be when our collective backs are forced against a wall. We now have, at the time of writing, not one, not two, but three vaccines in play to aide us in the fight against COVID-19. This is a scientific miracle in its own right; the sheer speed and efficiency with which these vaccines were developed makes it a viable Nobel prize candidate.

This begs the questions, at least in my mind; If we are able to unite together and make such major breakthroughs in such a short span of time, what then could be accomplished if we were given two years of collective effort? What about five, or ten or even fifty? How radically could we transform the societal landscape for the betterment of its inhabitants, if we apply the same zealous fervor we have to combating this virus? Imagine the legacy that we could leave! All these big issues that we have been half addressing/half ignoring could be resolved. Things like our impact on the climate, racial/societal equity, or international relationships could all be improved upon if we set aside our differences and various allegiances, and focused instead on our commonalities and what form our long term legacy will take shape into.

This idea of legacy has been resonating very strongly with me over the past few weeks. With a new child in the fold, my thoughts inherently gravitate toward what kind of future she will grow up in. Will she be able to enjoy the outdoors to the same extent that we do? Will she have the same opportunities to experience our natural world’s many gifts and treasures? Any answer other than absolutely yes is not unacceptable to me. So, in order to ensure she has the same access too rich and meaningful experiences means that I need to be taking action NOW.

If I may be so glib, the beauty of owning your own business means that you can shape the ethos of the company however you see fit. For Backcountry Performance, this means partnering and engaging with organizations that place value in our planet’s sustainability first and foremost. From national non-profits to local special interest groups, we at Backcountry Performance pledge to create relationships that foster the continued growth and preservation of our beloved planet. In the following weeks and months, you can look forward to new relationships we are forging, both big and small, to uphold our values of environmental sustainability and preservation, so that generations down the road will have the opportunity to love, play and explore the natural wonders of our home.