My Coach Fred

May 27, 2021

My coach Fred has kept me going all through the pandemic. He talks, I listen.

The picture you see above has been a major contributor to the success of KidsOutAndAbout.com over the years. This is a print of a painting called, simply, "Lincoln and Douglass," by Lincoln into Art artist Wendy Allen, and it hangs on a wall of my office where Abe and Fred can keep an eye on me. Wendy came to my town in 2009 as part of the 200th anniversary celebration of Lincoln's birth, and I knew this print had to be mine as soon as I saw it in her selection.

I'm a publisher living in the Age of the Internet. I will never experience anything close to the challenges Lincoln and Douglass faced; relative to them, I have no problems. So whenever I feel tired or discouraged or lazy or wonder whether to focus on an easier task, I look up at Abe and Fred. They stare down at me sternly and tell me to summon some perspective and some energy and get back to work. Fred is particularly persuasive: He reminds me that he was able to escape slavery as an adult, learn to read and write, and become one of the most compelling writers and orators of all time—all I have to do is lead a business through the end of a pandemic in such a way that we all come out stronger on the other end. I have it easy.

In a letter in 1855, Frederick Douglass wrote: "It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men." That is undoubtedly true, and much of KidsOutAndAbout's mission is dedicated to promoting local opportunities that help us raise steadfast, capable, thoughtful children. Now, though, is a time for focusing on repair... systems, relationships, processes, people. Carefully negotiating the end of Covid has its many challenges, but humans have historically proven ourselves resourceful at finding creative ways to help one another bounce back from disaster, and I know we'll be able to do that now... especially when we can look to the past, and to art that cues its lessons, for inspiration and fortitude.

Fred might say something different to you than he does to me. But it's almost certainly worth listening.

—Deb