I always try to remain apolitical whenever I put anything out into cyberspace. My personal opinions on politics and the World are my own. They are based mainly on my experiences in my life and values I’ve adopted for me. Just like your personal opinions on things like politics, religion, hot button issues, etc. are yours and based on your life experiences and values, etc. I respect yours and mine equally. See how easy that is :).
Even as the owner of a small company, my personal views have nothing to do with my company and how it operates. As of the owner of a travel company, my goals are to provide an amazing and safe travel experience for our travelers. That’s it.
This is how it should be. Companies don’t have political opinions. Cancel culture is so ridiculously stupid.
People should maybe have political opinions if they want to (it’s also cool not to by the way)… they just shouldn’t be sharing them with strangers on social media. No really, you shouldn’t. At all. Seriously, stop.
So, I say all that as a preface to this. This is not a political statement. This is simply something to think about as we leave the Covid-19 global pandemic behind.
The Government and Social Media and Big Business are not going to tell individual citizens when it’s safe to travel again. It’s not going to happen. Ever. If you are waiting for that, you are going to be waiting for the rest of your life. Almost all the government officials in almost all the countries on almost all the ends of each political spectrum really love the power and control that a global pandemic in the information age affords them.
I mean think about the people who ran for Class President in your high school. They had very little power, right. What could they do? Start a petition to get more pizza days in the cafeteria? But what if they got more and more power? Would they give it back? Of course not. The people who would be interested in running for a position like Class President in high school WANT THE POWER. So what about the people who run for national political offices or even people in the media? They love themselves power and control. Blue, red, whatever. Doesn’t matter. Cut from the same cloth.
Again, this is not a political statement whatsoever. Whoever you voted for or whatever has nothing to do with this statement. But the Covid-19 pandemic is really the best thing to ever happen if you are a politician or media member, or celebrity, or member of the ruling class in some way. It’s a rating bonanza. It’s a time to shine. It’s energizing votes. It’s good news, frankly. For the rest of us, it sucks.
The reality is that each and every individual and family will need to decide for themselves when they are ready to travel again. Whenever that time is for you, great. You aren’t wrong. It’s what works for you.
We’ve been filling our teams for our summer trips this winter. The majority of our new clients are Texans even though we market to all 50 States basically equally. It’s a crazy phenomenon. I spent two years living in Texas (everyone should experience living in Texas by the way), so I understand the Texan mindset. It’s been passed down through generations.
So, why do Texans think differently about traveling post Covid? Texans value independence. They were left to fend for themselves in the Wild West. They defended the Alamo without much help from Uncle Sam. It’s in their blood.
I only mention Texas because eventually the rest of the country is going to follow their lead. It might be 2 years, or 10 years. But how long did it take to get over the 1918 flu? I don’t know. I was born in 1979 but I don’t remember it having much effect on my life.
Covid is real. I know, I have it right now. My whole family of 5 has it. I’ve had flu symptoms for 3 weeks now. It kind of sucks. I hope you don’t get it. I really hope I don’t pass it to anyone who could get real sick and/or die from it. I hope the vaccine works real well. I also hope people start to focus on living a healthy lifestyle. If Covid is going to stick around, we need to learn to mitigate the risk it brings.
Regardless, It’s going to end. Life is going to be normal again. WHEN that is, is going to be up to you personally for you and your family. Don’t wait for an ‘all-clear’ from institutions that have no interest in releasing some new found power that they crave. You know what is and isn’t safe for you and your family. You are smarter than the people running for class president or wanting to be in front of a camera. They don’t have your best interests in mind. They have theirs. They didn’t really care that much about more pizza days in the cafeteria. They cared about becoming class president.
When YOU are ready, contact us. It’s going to be the new ROARING 20’s real soon.
Join me (and some Texans) and let’s go travel the World when you feel safe to do so!
Tim Ryerson, SaWUSA President
984-225-1040
tim@studentathleteworld.com