Finneran: A CV Free Zone

Friday, March 20, 2020

Tom Finneran, GoLocalWorcester MINDSETTER™

Tom Finneran

I refuse to utter the word. It has been uttered a million times a day, every day, for the past two weeks.

The word has ten letters. It begins with C and ends with S and you will not read it here. This is a CV free zone.

You are very likely bored. You have been told to self-quarantine and to exercise prudent social distance. You miss your favorite restaurants, your favorite bartenders, and your regular companions. You miss your fellow gym rats. And yes, you actually miss your colleagues at work. That’s a definite surprise for you……those same folks at work who make you roll your eyes and shake your head in disbelief have now entered the realm of the greatly missed. It’s your version of The Office and you miss all the characters.

This week revealed the wonderfully convenient commuting patterns of a region in full recession. Overnight we went from the worst traffic in the nation to breaking the speed limit from door to door. I’ll take the robust economy and the bad traffic every day rather than the easy commute to and from ghost towns.

Some free advice and commentary:

Catch up on some reading. Shakespeare’s plays take some time and effort. You certainly have the time! Get a copy of The Splendid and The Vile. It’s a great book about World War II and the Blitz. Pick up a copy of The Candy Bombers, about a brave and generous America coming to the rescue of starving Berliners through the Berlin Airlift. America did not suffer from moral confusion back then. Nor did it suffer from moral or cultural timidity. We were (and are) a vastly superior society to murderous Russian (and Chinese) Communists. Let that be said loudly and clearly to all, particularly to the pantheon of professors who hate America. Local author Steve Puleo has a new book out. I have yet to read it, but Steve’s other works set a very high bar for scholarship, history, and writing. The new book, Voyage of Mercy, is about a humanitarian rescue ship from Boston bringing urgent relief to a starving Ireland. I have no doubt that it’s a painful yet inspiring page-turner and another example of America at its best. Get yourself a copy and be prepared to chase away the boredom.
The world of sports is on hold. I already miss the Bruins and Celtics. I’m missing March Madness as well. Now we are told that the Kentucky Derby and The Masters are postponed. And our own Boston Marathon too! Is there nothing sacred? Truthfully, I will not miss the Red Sox. The season was shaping up as a disaster, a slow train wreck with weak pitching and no elan. Personally, I prefer to be pitching batting practice and hitting grounders to my grandchildren rather than wondering about the Red Sox payroll and the luxury tax threshold. The Patriots are in the news. Brady, Collins, and Van Noy will not be here. Matthew Slater will be. I’m intrigued and impressed by Slater. He’s “old” by NFL standards and he plays a difficult position. He’s a team captain and he just seems so grounded with his family and his work. I wish him well.
These past two weeks have illuminated many things about global health. When things return to “normal” I wonder if we’ll return to beating up the biotech and pharmaceutical scientists, researchers, and companies whose hard work saves lives? Medicines anyone? Vaccines? Just wondering…………………………..

Tom Finneran is the former Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, served as the head the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, and was a longstanding radio voice in Boston radio.

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Finneran: A CV Free Zone

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