I am going to continue taking advantage of the year 2020 for its vision analogy by considering the phrase “in the blink of an eye.” I was recently reminded of this by a car accident I had that certainly seemed to happen in the blink of an eye. Thankfully, no injuries occurred mainly due to the many safety features of modern cars. But it made me think that in that blink, a lot of things changed. Many of those changes I had no control over, the car was not drivable and I was not getting to my destination on time. However, I could control my reaction and make a quick change of plans to adjust to this new normal without transportation.
Another use of the phrase in the blink of an eye is to describe the seemingly rapid passage of time. There is even a country song about it by Kenny Chesney, "Don’t Blink." The time between major events in our lives, such as graduations, marriages, births, new jobs, and disasters, seems to pass rapidly. We can certainly now add global pandemic to that list of major events in our lives. Very few people who survived the 1918 influenza pandemic are still alive today. I recently learned that this disease had claimed my great-grandfather’s life when my grandmother was very young. That event, that they had no control over, created a major change for my great-grandmother and her 2 children. However, she was able to control her reaction, re-married, had more children, and in the blink of an eye lived to be 100. That one blink of an eye event changed the entire lifetimes of my great-grandmother and grandmother. The other blink of an eye event that comes to mind is September 11, 2001. That event occurred nearly 20 years ago now, but it still seems like only a few years ago because it was such a dramatic event.
Which brings me to our current event of packing plant closures. Just a few months ago we were able to hold the annual AASV convention in Atlanta, the next week many businesses classified as non-essential closed or events were cancelled, but the essential food supply activities continued. We seemed to be lulled into the idea that packing plants would always stay open. Then, in the blink of an eye, over half of the federally inspected capacity was shut down. It seemed similar to the car accident and the only thing I could control were my actions following this major event. Thankfully, many producers had AASV members to help them adjust to this new normal by adjusting diets and double stocking young pigs to try and hold market pigs until they could be processed. But it was not enough, pigs would need to be removed from the supply chain before they became too big for the processing plant. Our AASV members were right there next to their clients working to control what they could and making plans to make the best of the situation.
Some will say the processing industry should have been more ready for this type of disease in workers. I would argue that this virus has been unpredictable in its transmission and length of asymptomatic status. This resulted in some swings and misses with intervention methods from even the most expert public health professionals. In a few years, or in the blink of an eye, we will be on to our next major life changing event. We will have moved on from this situation smarter and more prepared for the next one. Just remember, when the next major event occurs, to control what you can and don’t worry excessively over what you cannot.
Don’t blink or you’ll miss it!
Jeff Harker, DVM
AASV President