Paul W. Smith: Happy Cyber Monday and hello December

“Outta’ My Mind on a Monday Moanin’” 

Goodbye, November! 

I’d like to say, “I’ll miss you!” 

But I’m not a liar, and I don’t want to start being one now. The last month I missed this year might have been the first one. But I can’t remember. 

The good news is there is just one month left in this ill-fated year. The bad news is that it appears that 2021 might just be an extension of 2020, at least till everyone can get vaccinated, or someone miraculously comes up with magical therapeutics to actually cure this scourge. 

For perspective, though, it was popular in the beginning of this thing to reference the Spanish Flu of 1918 (and 1919 and 1920), but upon further review, thankfully, COVID-19 is not even close. Worldwide, the Spanish Flu infected 500 million people and killed 50 million. How about this quote from the New York Times on pandemics ending, “not because a disease has been vanquished but because people grow tired of panic mode and learn to live with a disease.” At least that’s what I read somewhere. 

How did Black Friday go for you in this new world we live in ? 

► I hope National Small Business Saturday this past week end went well for you and for all of the hard-working entrepreneurs who have been beaten to a pulp by lockdowns and bad luck. 

► And if today really is Cyber Monday, what does that actually mean in our New World Disorder? 

► If we really are going to be locked down for at least the next couple of weeks, won’t most of our foreseeable shopping be cyber?  

► Buck the trend and try to buy local. 

Paul W. Smith is host of “The Paul W. Smith Show” on WJR-AM (760) from 5:30-9 a.m. Monday-Friday.