March is the month when I contemplate the unavoidable passage of time. It’s my birthday month, which always prompts me to look back into the past even as my age notches another year forward.
As an avid reader, Shakespeare was a favourite and I can’t help but reflect on the soothsayer’s warning to Caesar, “Beware the Ides of March”. Our battle against COVID-19 began in earnest right around March 15 a year ago. Schools and daycares closed, retailers shuttered, those who could began working remotely, and grocery queues became the norm.
Now, just 12 months later, I found myself in a queue once more – not for groceries this time, but for a COVID-19 vaccine. Registration was easy. The needle was painless. And the mood in the 15-minute wait zone afterward was light, even with our new rituals of hand sanitizer, masks and six feet of distance!
Resilience is as timeless as the Shakespearean truths and clichés I’ve grown up with.
This is my 17th message to fellow CPRS Edmonton members since stepping into the president’s role in October 2019. As promised then, your volunteer directors have dedicated themselves – virtually for the past year – to community resilience, forging new ways to connect frequently and differently.
We are erasing chapter borders with Calgary, Regina, Victoria, and others. We are opening new avenues for programming and involvement. We are reimagining the purpose, relevance, and value of CPRS with attention to the full career arc of a professional – student to retiree – and the emerging needs of society. We continue to embrace the spirit of good volunteer association governance even as we wrestle with administrative protocols and norms mismatched with today’s digital needs and platforms.
Most of all, we are holding steady, bonding through personal setbacks and tragedies, and focusing with courage on the complex global issues of our time.
Clients and employers look to those in our profession for unwavering good judgment, relentless optimism, and co-designed solutions. Please know your CPRS Edmonton board and community is a ready source of ideas, insights, career support, and camaraderie. Together, we are always resilient.
Anticipate, initiate, be bold! Lyn