Written by Craig Kaminer

I’ve had many disorienting times in my life, but this takes the cake. While I don’t have much to complain about, I am nonetheless very disoriented and I’m sure many of you are too. I am continually surprised by the varying responses to COVID and I can’t understand why some people will do everything they can to reduce the infection rate and others are defiant and choose to avoid wearing masks, congregate often and go out of their way to politicize the pandemic. Just as I was getting adjusted to the COVID chaos, racism reared its ugly head again. Violence ensued, peaceful and not so peaceful demonstrations became a daily occurrence, and it now seems we are reckoning issues of our original sin -- the injustices of taking Native American land and enslaving African Americans -- hundreds of years after these things occurred and were never really addressed. So we are living in a disorienting time, struggling to cure a modern plague while saving as many lives as possible, and simultaneously re-evaluating the decisions and actions of our ancestors to cure the inequities which many American’s feel each and every day in our city and our country. 

But we must deal with all this now. There is no hoping this all goes away with time. We have the power and influence to create a more perfect union and rid our culture of small mindedness, avoidance, cold heartedness, and multi-generational hate. The hard work that should have been done generations ago was not; we are left with the remnants of a broken past...and if we are not careful, a broken future. 

We need to think beyond extremes, COVID versus COVID free, black and white, gay and straight, Democrats and Republicans, them and us. Life is more complicated than that; it’s more gray than black and white; it’s more nuanced than right and wrong; and we need to start listening and understanding - more than disagreeing, hating, and fighting. I have always thought I was progressive, understanding, welcoming, and unbiased. Compared to many, I am. But I know there is a lot more I can do, we can do, to make sure everyone feels like they belong. This is not about political correctness; it's about caring and realizing we all have more in common than not. I have no doubt this is a turning point and my wish is that everyone who is privileged enough to read this publication does everything in their power to spread care and love, and make room for other opinions, ways of life, diversity, equity, and equality for everyone. 

So we will ask leaders in our community to share their ideas of how to make St. Louis better and more inclusive, a model for transformation and renewal, and for embracing what we don’t always understand. We will raise issues which we have side-stepped in the past because we can’t be empathetic and complicit simultaneously. 

I have always rooted for the underdog. As an entrepreneur, I look for problems and try to solve them. As a storyteller, I look for the surprise in everything. As a father, I encourage my kids to take the road less traveled. As a sailor, I seek to explore and discover things few people have experienced before. As a scholarship kid from the Bronx, I understand what it means to be different from the mainstream even though I probably am the mainstream. 

I am guilty of not doing more sooner. Maybe you are too. But I urge us to start now. Start small. Let’s not let this time in history to make it right pass us by. I encourage you to share your thoughts with me -- no matter how different -- so we can talk about what is long overdue. If we listen to each other and remain open to the possibility of understanding each other, we will begin to see change. 

This is the least we can hope for. The world wasn’t better before, but it can be in the future.