Happy Monday Canna Fam, and a belated Happy Father’s Day to all of the kickass dads out there. I am going to dive right into it this week with the topic at hand. Who would have thought when choosing our New Year’s Resolutions for 2020, it would have been as simple as “Stay Alive”? This year we have experienced challenges, deaths, and roadblocks that probably most of us can say we have not experienced in our lifetime. It has been a heavy year on our hearts and souls, and I hope that everybody is being kinder than ever to themselves. We are being tested right now on our strength, our selflessness, our patience, our resiliency and our overall sanity. I know that this industry is full of fighters, so I ask us to hold hands and walk together through the rest of this year, as it is an impossible year to walk alone.
When Covid-19 first hit, my immediate reaction was fear. I travel 24/7 for work. How am I going to continue selling and where should I live if I don’t have to leave within a few weeks? Little did I know, our industry not only can survive a pandemic, but we have been busier than ever with the increase in orders. I was also surprised to find myself extremely stir crazy, and less content than I imagined to have some stability for once. However, now that I am back on the road, life has definitely changed for us travelers. I never once stressed the cleanliness of a hotel (okay minus the time I got bed bugs), and now if your hotel staff is not wearing a mask, it makes you feel uneasy. With a cannabis event in Oklahoma already set to happen next weekend, life is slowly returning to normal, and some days I do not know how to return to normal with it. While some states are just now opening up, others are already acting as if Covid-19 never happened.
Covid-19 was just one of many challenges we have faced in 2020. After we lost yet another African American due to police brutality, America reacted with peaceful protests, social media movements, and some not so peaceful protests, riots, and looting. People are angry and fed up with the oppression that continues for black lives, hence the “Black Lives Matter” movement. I highly suggest at this time to use your platform to stand up for what you believe in and use your voice. To the “All Lives Matter” folks, you have frankly missed the damn point. It takes black lives mattering, to support a statement that “All Lives Matter”, so we should probably start there! To those out protesting peacefully, I stand behind you %1000 percent. If you are concerned with Covid-19, there are many other ways to get involved right now and show your support toward the movement whether it is signing a petition, donating toward a cause, or just educating yourself in general to be in a place that you can not only understand what is going on in the world, but help to fight for your fellow people. This is for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Eric Garner, Laquan McDonald, Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin, and every other black life that mattered and was treated like they don’t.
We are given a choice in life as we grow up and realize that we can only really depend on ourselves. We get to choose what kind of human we want to be. We get to decide how we want to view others, and who we choose to associate with. In making that choice, we do not necessarily have to be selfless, in fact we can be very selfish if we choose to. However, those choices directly impact the world that we are a part of, and the hate that comes with it. I am learning the hard way, with what is going on in the world, how divided we truly are, and how much it is my responsibility to stand up for what I believe in and fight for that. The crazy thing is, by expressing my views and standing up for a race, regardless of the fact that that race Is human nonetheless, I have “lost” supposed friends. Now I put lost in quotes, because to me that loss is actually a gain. Anybody who refuses to fight for another human, simply because they look different than them, well that is not somebody that I want in my life and not somebody I would ever call a friend. Recognizing racism around you, and standing up for anti-racism does not fix the problem, but it is a step in the right direction. Hopefully our industry also evolves in regards to diversity. The majority of people thrown in the prison system for cannabis were African American, and yet the majority of people in the legal industry making money are Caucasian. I know that I will do my best to be more aware and educated, and do what I can to support black cannabis owned businesses moving forward.
Overall 2020 has been intense to say the least. I have never used my psychology degree more, and that is an understatement. Do you all even remember how this year started? Australia was on fire, and we were donating to save animal species that were at danger of going extinct! To me, that seems like it was 5 years ago. Then we almost got Trump impeached, unfortunately he is still here. Moving on, we jump to Washington with their first case of lovely coronavirus. While it is still January, we lose a legend, Kobe Bryant, and his beautiful daughter Gigi, as well as seven other special passengers to a helicopter crash. This was just the beginning of a painful six months. I have friends going through break ups, and divorces, job losses, and child labor. Life is still happening regardless of how much it feels like it’s on hold right now. It is our job to be kinder to ourselves and to others, especially during these very hard times. With a spike in Covid-19 for certain states, we really do not know what to expect for the rest of our year. All we can do is stay positive, fight for what we believe in, and be the best version of ourselves. If you are struggling more than normal this year, you are absolutely not alone, and I am sending virtual hugs and love to you all.
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