by Nicole Klein
You’ve walked many miles, the glaring sun is shining down and you know you have to find a water source to survive. Up ahead there’s a gap in the trees, you think it might be the small river or creek you’ve been expecting, based on your map. Your entire body hurts and your throat feels like it’s sticking together every time you swallow, but the energy of being so close pushes those feelings aside and you double your pace. You approach and you hear water running, a healthy stream and you can imagine the cool water running down your throat you walk even faster, excited to know what you will see.
The last 10 minutes of walking were as easy as your first, you could see the stream was healthy, running over several small cascades with the energy to purify and extract. You smelled it, it’s clean, you look and there is no algae, no slow moving pools. Your survival experience tells you it is safe to drink… you do. An hour or two later your body feels fully recovered.
Now, imagine when you finally arrive, you see the stream instead is slow, and pretty darn stinky and stagnant. The water is there, but it hasn’t been flowing for many, many months. You feel low energy already, and realize this is going to take some work before you can hydrate your parched body. But then you remember you have your filtration system. And your pot and a firestarter and good kindling. You have the vessel, the materials, and the way to add that oh so critical energy to boil away the microbes and parasites. It’s just going to take extra work to get this water moving, extra time and some fire to turn that water from existentially dangerous to become life giving.
The people of the trade show and business event industry are problem solvers, we thrive and love our very challenging work. Normally, we are confident we can find the solutions even if they aren’t obvious. This pandemic year taught us all that the only answer sometimes is patience. Let’s help each other get started. Together.
