A friend told me on a video call the other day that “no one is a real person until they’ve gone through trauma.” As children, we’re pure but lack real empathy. We’re fearless but empty. It’s the bad stuff that makes us grow.

A defibrillator is an interesting case study on life. If lightning strikes a person, their heart stops. But if you rub some gel on Mr. Cardiac Arrest, send 1,000 volts through two little paddles, and smack him in the chest, his heart starts right back up again. Either way, it was electricity the whole time.

What I’m getting at is that sometimes trauma derails our lives. It brings us to a standstill. It breaks our hearts. If we can take a little trauma and capture it--point it in the right direction--it’s the one thing that can bring us back from the dead. I know there’s a lot of fear right now. A lot of loneliness. A lot of trauma. Despite the obvious fact that pandemics really suck, I know we can use this to restart something great together.