A Letter From Rick Hinnant

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY! I'd like to share a little from my heart on what’s truly needed during this time concerning the coronavirus. President Roosevelt’s words stand as true now as they did many decades ago when he said, “This great nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” The real pandemic we’re seeing world-wide is fear. It’s causing problems of epic proportions that are almost unimaginable. We currently have two camps in the world at this moment. The first camp is Fear. The majority of the world is reacting in this way and it’s certainly not helping. The fruit of fear that I’m seeing is panic, paranoia, extreme anxiety/stress and very irrational thought, to mention a few traits. Take a second to ask yourself if any of this is helping to overcome the situation. The second camp is Faith. I’m not seeing nearly enough people in this camp, but they are starting to rise and we will overcome the fear and darkness in this present hour as we always do. The fruit of faith that I’m seeing is peace within, peace of mind, joy, adventure, rational thought and a settled-ness to mention a few traits. If you’re not in this camp, would you like to be? We need you to become who you were meant to be and lead… lead those within your sphere. We WILL be ok. This great country WILL be ok. This virus will pass, and it will pass quickly. What’s needed right this moment is leadership, and YOU can be part of the solution. COVID-19 is a serious issue and necessary precautions and use of wisdom should be taken, but we need to begin immediately with stamping out the fear. We need to be intentional and act viciously to destroy the fear! All fear and paranoia needs to be under our feet right this moment! We’re a very strong and resilient nation. The world looks to us and now is our time to shine and be the beacon we are. Are you ready to become who you were meant to be? First, we need to lead ourselves and then let’s lead others. Fear is no longer an option! Right thinking, right words and right actions are what we must do NOW! If you’re a Grace and Lace customer then you’re a world changer, because with each purchase you’re helping to change the world for both orphans and those in sex trafficking. We’re in this together and we’ll overcome it together. C.S. Lewis’ words, written 72 years ago, ring with relevance today. Replace “atomic bomb” with “coronavirus” and become part of the solution with us. In one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. “How are we to live in an atomic age?” I am tempted to reply: “Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accidents.” In other words, do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation. Believe me, dear sir or madam, you and all whom you love were already sentenced to death before the atomic bomb was invented: and quite a high percentage of us were going to die in unpleasant ways. We had, indeed, one very great advantage over our ancestors—anesthetics; but we have that still. It is perfectly ridiculous to go about whimpering and drawing long faces because the scientists have added one more chance of painful and premature death to a world which already bristled with such chances and in which death itself was not a chance at all, but a certainty. This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds. — “On Living in an Atomic Age” (1948) in Present Concerns: Journalistic Essays