Recently I interviewed several doctors for a story on how physicians are coping with sickness and stress from COVID-19. With each conversation, I noticed something. The usual greetings—How are you? I’m fine, how are you?—possessed a new weight. Even though we were strangers, we were truly asking each other, How ARE you? How are you holding up?
One of the upsides of my job is that I talk almost daily to dedicated, generous, passionate, compassionate people. Here are four quotes, some inspiring, some sad, that have stood out from recent interviews:
“I don’t want to be concerned about trivial things anymore. I want to spend time on the things that are really important.” Malika Fair, MD, is a physician in the department of emergency medicine at George Washington University. She’s also a widower and a new mother with a four-month-old daughter. And like many people, she’s reconsidering how she spends her 650,000 hours of life.
“There are always going to be tragedies in the world, but there will always be more good—you just have to look for it.” Mary Latham’s mother told her this following the Sandy Hook shootings in 2012. After her mom died, Mary spent three years driving through all 50 states, staying “in Hillary homes and Trump homes” and recording stories of human kindness. I wrote about her emotional journey for my recent “Everyday Heroes” column for The Saturday Evening Post.
“It’s a terrible way to die. It keeps me up at night.” Evelyn Granieri, MD, is a longtime geriatrician at the New York-Presbyterian / Columbia University Medical Center and she told me about dementia patients with COVID-19. They’re often confused and frightened by the masked faces that surround them. Many are men, and in their delirium, they call out for their wives. But Granieri has witnessed more altruism and camaraderie at the hospital than at any time in her career.
“Remember that pandemic? What did you do? ‘Oh, I sat around and watched Netflix.’ That’s bullshit. You’ve got to make things happen.” John Alex is a financial planner, but he’s also the founder of United Aid Foundation (UAF), a disaster relief org that has worked in such devastated areas as the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian. I met John in January in Mali, where UAF was working with One Global Village. Not one to waste time, Alex is not only working with his financial clients during the pandemic, but he started a charity drive through YouGiveGoods.com and he’s taking an online tai chi class. Small actions matter, he says. “Ask your elderly neighbors if they need help," he says. "We can all do something.”
Has the pandemic changed your perspective on life? Send me your thoughts at ken@650000hours.com.
Ken Budd is the author of The Voluntourist and the host of 650,000 Hours. Sign up here for the monthly 650,000 Hours newsletter!