Are We Really Prepared?
Original My Thousand Words book sculpture/Deborah Lambin.
By Deborah Lambin
Thinking back to 2020, were we ever prepared for this pandemic and the world simply shutting down?
When looking at Merriam-Webster's dictionary definition of "preparation," it shares that it is an activity or process of making something ready or simply becoming prepared for something.
Now take another word, COVID, more specifically, COVID-19. It's a word you probably didn't know existed, but since 2019 and more recently 2020-2021, it's been a word that is all over the news and of the world and is a killer to many. The dictionary defines it as mild to severe respiratory illness caused by a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 of the genus Betacoronavirus. COVID-19 is transmitted chiefly by contact with infectious material such as respiratory droplets or with objects or surfaces contaminated by the causative virus and is characterized primarily by fever, cough, and shortness of breath and may progress to pneumonia and respiratory failure. Indeed, this is certainly a mouthful of information that truly gives us a definition of how our world seemed to have gone to sleep.
COVID-19 grabbed hold of our world, covering it with a film of destruction while removing the weak and knocking out everyone else that it could. Was this infection created in a lab in China as so many claim? Was its purpose to expose the world and start eliminating overpopulation? I find myself reflecting on the concept of reading best sellers then made into blockbuster movies sharing the images of removing the meek and weak to build a more substantial population. I don't know nor will I ever have the answers, but what I do know is that "we," the majority of the people, don't have those answers either.
What we do know was the scare and fright the media shared. The government told us to stay home and stay safe and wait for a cure or injection to stop this spread! There was never any "preparation" or "getting ready" to handle this devastation, ever! We learned then to protect ourselves by putting covers on our hands and faces to eliminate the spread.
In 2019, COVID-19 showed its ugly face to some and was in its early stages; again, it didn't get us ready or prepare us for what was to come. It was just an illness, and our government did not prepare us as they had other issues to deal with. At the start of 2020, several people were growing ill, and it was happening worldwide. People were dying everywhere, and still, there were no answers. Morgues were filling up so quickly that make-shift trailers were placed in the streets of New York City to accommodate those that perished. Afraid of what was happening, people didn't leave their homes, and businesses needed to shut down from lack of sales, some never to reopen. People were losing their jobs, and we were at the mercy of the government to help, to step in, and find a way to stop this beast from wiping out everyone.
As Americans, we were all allowed to take an experimental drug that was thought of to stop the infection from furthering its ugly way into ourselves and preventing us from getting COVID-19. While it was believed to be the "cure-all" and saving grace, many were skeptical about not wanting to be guinea pigs or being part of the experiment of drug testing. But many formed lines and worked their way through to be the first to receive the shots, and many did this through devious methods of getting it first. Then some would not for any reason get this shot because of principle or belief that the government was being so cavalier in mandating everyone to get their injections! What is right? What is wrong with this? We are a free country with free speech and the right to do what we believe is correct.
Again, looking at the definition of preparedness. Were we ever ready for this? Did we ever see this ugly monster approach us in any way? I don't have the correct answer for you, but as time has gone by and the year 2020 is a blur of unanswered questions and lots of fear, I know that the virus has subsided dramatically. Was it because of the vaccinations created and given to those lining up to receive one, or simply finding new ways to stay out of the open air and get through the year? I often think that "what if everyone would take this injection?" Would our world be better? Would there be variant outbreaks of COVID-19? Better yet, would we all be still in face masks?
This past year didn't prepare me for anything as we never knew how long this would last. With each day, I started to find myself and what my purpose in life was. I began to "rethink" what was essential and rid myself of all the others that didn't matter. While I always knew and felt the love of my family and their continued efforts in helping my husband and myself lose weight, I think that I finally found my life was all up to me, and I was the one who had to change it. I embraced this change, and with it came losing over 200 lbs between my husband and me and learning to eat better and exercise daily. When the swim center opened in June of 2020, I was there every day, swimming at least a mile a day! I started to see a difference in my attitude, my ideas, and more. And yes, I was looking terrific and toned and in a body that I hadn't seen since my high school days! I was healthy and super happy, off medications, and feeling that I finally had the real understanding of "the importance of life."
Being an artist and having that compassion for art is very important to me. The year of COVID-19 changed me and how I embrace art. I realized that I needed to take the time to embrace myself and get into my art, creating all the things that I always dreamt of doing and simply doing it. I immersed myself into different projects showcasing my art, sculpting large-scaled art. Public art that was 6 feet tall of a mother and daughter made entirely of paper for The Wetlands in Henderson, Nevada. Then another highlighted the importance of reuse, repurpose, and recycling as sustainable art with community children in Las Vegas that was more than 12 feet tall. I found that I was working and creating a new me, someone who finally knew oneself's importance! The book that I started writing several months ago was finished and published by the end of the year. My involvement with Nevada Arts Council (NAC) and work with the Basin Range Exchange (BRX) was incredible as it was giving me more ammunition to make my project NVArtStops stronger.
COVID-19 absolutely changed my life and placed our project on hold or instead brought it to a complete halt. I have learned from this how to cope and complete the many undone tasks that I conveniently placed on hold for far too long—realizing the importance of life and phasing out the ones that seem to creep into my path and continue to push them aside. I feel ready to complete my books and publish them this year while finalizing the extensive paperwork for our non-for-profit NVArtStops.
The definition of "preparation" shares an activity or a process of making something ready or really to become prepared. While I can't predict COVID-19 or another pandemic, I can prepare myself to be healthy, fit, wise, and always learning from reliable sources of the world and its leaders so that I am ready to handle what comes before me.
Deborah Lambin is a working artist with several years of working in many art mediums from watercolor, printmaking, and sculpture. Over the past seven years, Deborah and her daughter Rachael, partner of My Thousand Words book sculptures, have created and sculpted pages and books into beautiful, abstract, and 3-dimensional works. Deborah has been awarded for excellence for her work by Clark County City Hall, City of Las Vegas, The Wetlands in Henderson, and created the 2019 Artown poster design for Reno. Deborah is also an instructor with the Sierra Arts Academy in Reno and continues to teach art at several venues. She has started to create other mediums of art through paint, sustainable art, and more.
In 2019, Deborah and her husband David attended several public art workshops and seminars to learn about making their art larger. They applied and were accepted to attend Nevada Art Council BRX, a group that brings rural residents together with urban residents, to share art with all. While there, met Julie Okabayashi, a Clark County resident and curator of the library system. There the three came together and created NVArtStops, a tour that teaches art to all (libraries, communities, schools) and helps to share artists in rural and those in urban, to know of one another.
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