Of Hoarders and Heroes

Wow! What a couple of weeks! I think most of us can say with no uncertainty that we never expected we would need to navigate a global pandemic during our careers.

And yet, here we are. Every day brings a new challenge, a new requirement, a new course of action that must be decided in the moment.

It is interesting to me to watch how different the reactions to the crisis has been. It’s been said that adversity doesn’t build character, it reveals character. Because we all tend to label things, I’ve been putting the character of people I observe into two categories: hoarders and heroes.

Hoarders. Taking what they need, and then more, and then more, and then more, to the point that others who have just as much need—or more—can’t get the supplies required to navigate this troubling time.

You’ve seen the photos of the empty store shelves, people buying hundreds of rolls of toilet paper, gallons of milk, loaves of bread. My mom used to buy about ten loaves of bread a week…but she was feeding eleven kids.

Maybe you saw the story of Noah Colvin, the entrepreneurial Tennessean who traveled 1,300 miles across the country buying nearly 18,000 bottles of Purell hand sanitizer, hoping to sell them on eBay for huge profits.

Maybe people hoard out of fear, maybe they hoard out of greed. What they don’t do is hoard out of rational thought. It’s generally not the fire in the theater that kills people, it’s the trampling of others on the way to save ourselves.

Do you remember George Costanza?

But enough about hoarders. Let’s talk about the heroes. For every hoarder I’ve seen, I have seen a dozen heroes selflessly step it up to help contain the crisis, not make it worse.

In my school district, cafeteria staff are working every day, putting together lunches to feed nearly 700 children daily. Our bus drivers and aides are delivering the meals to the homes. Our teachers and counselors are checking in with students not just to make sure they are getting their work done, but to remind their kids that the care about them and miss them. Custodians are cleaning buildings, principals are delivering personal items to families, coaches are sending training plans to their athletes. It is absolutely incredible how our faculty and staff have come together to do what’s right for kids, as faculty and staff in schools across the nation have done as well.

There is never a wrong time to be kind. And the truth is, the educational community is full of kind, caring, compassionate people, people who go out of their way to help others in need.

Heroes emerge in the community, too. Dozens of citizens have contacted me to ask how they can help. A funeral home donated $2,000 to help feed our kids, a booster club another $1,000. People have been dropping off non-perishables to share with families. A community member who happens to own a potato chip factory donated cases and cases of (very tasty) chips to be included in our food deliveries.

One elderly gentleman called me the other day concerned about his granddaughter, a senior who was fearful of missing her prom and graduation because of the closure of school. He said to me, “I don’t have the virus, so can I come by and donate $200? You can buy some rubber gloves for kids to wear at the prom so they don’t get sick.”

He’s a hero.

We accepted the $200 donation, which we will use to help sponsor some kids in need who otherwise wouldn’t be able to attend. Because we will have a prom, even if it won’t be the time and location we expected it to be.

So, while the media may be flooding the airwaves with images of hoarders, of selfish people thinking of themselves only in this time of community adversity, try to remember the heroes greatly outnumber them. Some people see the donut, and some people see the hole. Make sure you see the donut.

-Joe

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