This week I took a quick trip to check out the new location for PIE 2021. More about that later.
Just getting out of the office, on an airplane, and staying overnight in a hotel was refreshing. I had been locked down between the office and the house for months. What little creative juice I normally have had been sapped and I was useless.
That short trip reminded me just what it was like to meet people face to face. I saw new people, made a couple of friends, and was reminded that the world didn’t end at my property line. The destination airport was rocking and rolling. That airport, unlike LAX, was filled with people coming and going. Shops and restaurants were open, people were traveling, and I felt that all was right with the world.
Today Astrid reminded me of something I knew, but had simply shut down:
… that things work in society, because biology compels it.
Order eventually restores itself, by psychic equilibrium.
…..Camille Paglia
No matter what is going on, no matter how much chaos is surrounding us, order does eventually restore itself. Whether we help or not. Nature works that way. I had the opportunity to see that people do get on with life. And those of us in California, Illinois, New York and the like will be restored, like those in Florida, Texas, Georgia, and the Dakotas. Little by little, no matter how hard we try to stop it, order with restore itself.
If for no other reason than to be reminded that the world will return to normal, not a ‘new’ normal, but normal going out and leading our lives is important. The Exhibition we will be holding in July will be a fantastic opportunity to prove to yourself that order and life will be restored. See old friends, meet new ones, take a trip to a beautiful resort, and if it happens, do some business.
However I don’t think that the business part is the most important. The clearing of heads, the deep breaths of clear air, the smiles and conversations that are face to face, those are the things that make the first Face to Face meeting of our industry so important.
You have to break out of the cycle of lock downs, stay at homes, zoom meetings, and endless TV. Here is the perfect opportunity.
See you, Face to face, soon.
JVH
