This is more serious than any of us could have imagined.
As of March 28, 2020, more than 600,000 people have been infected and at least 28,000 have died worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Most of us were blissfully unaware of this lurking pandemic less than month ago, and now we humbly sit with a third of the worlds population under some form of lock down or quarantine. While the majority of people are highly tuned into tickers and freshly uploaded youtube videos about press conferences and stock spikes, another group of people are trying to utilize this time to focus on positivity and bettering themselves. I applaud the people who are helping do their part with the spread, and are focusing on things that will help themselves and their neighbors in the future.... because we WILL have a future. This is not the end of the world. I hope...
This is not ideal. We are social creatures, especially skateboarders. We need our homies to get us hyped to land that trick. We need the extra amps from our carefully selected group to keep us from giving up on that trick, despite the countless encounters we have with the concrete. While all of this is important to our culture, we need to do our part for the good of humanity.
The NBA along with almost all other professional sports has shut down. Las Vegas, and Disneyland have shut their doors. If this is not a wake up call I am not sure what is. Even pro skaters are providing a great example of how to keep the stoke while maintaining the social distance orders with Battle At The Quarantine from the Berrics. (A game of S.K.A.T.E. held over Facetime and broadcasted throughout their media outlets)
Listen, I can go deep into conspiracy theories and overlord government plots until the cows come home... BUT... I also understand that money rules the world. When the people who are behind the curtain shut down their billion dollar businesses, it might be too late to start paying attention. I was on a supply mission yesterday and I drove by an unnamed skatepark and saw a group of 15-20 skaters having a sesh like it was the good ole days of 3 weeks ago. In my opinion, this is unacceptable. We need to take this seriously.
For your health, for your mom and your dad, for your grandparents, take this serious. For the local coffee shop that might not be able to reopen, the boutique clothing shop, for the local skate shop that has to pay rent, but has no income, for the single mom who waits tables and depends on those tips to feed her children, take this serious, because we won't be able to get back to our lives until this passes.
Skip the sesh and save a life.
words by Keith Halterman
