‘What we can control, we must control’: Shiffrin shares message in social post
On Sunday night, Mikaela Shiffrin took to social media to share a powerful, emotional message about kindness, cleanliness and the responsibility of society. The five-and-a-half minute video and the accompanying post can be seen on the ski racer’s Facebook and Instagram pages.
“Hi everybody, I made it home safe a couple of days ago, thankfully,” the ski racer said in the video, two days after celebrating her 25th birthday. “I’m on the self-quarantining program — like so many people are — for the next 12-ish days now. I’m still feeling good, so that’s awesome.”
While traveling back to Edwards from the World Cup circuit in Europe, Shiffrin says she saw people in airports not washing their hands, coughing and sneezing without covering up, as well as people not washing after going to the bathroom.
“This isn’t supposed to be a tattletale message,” she says, “but more of a call to action. … This affects everyone — health-wise, of course. It affects everyone financially, it affects the economies, it affects all of us in so many ways.”
Her post details the importance of personal hygiene to help combat the spread of COVID-19 in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado — and the world — and the importance of being kind to one another.
“There is a lot that we cannot control right now, but there are some things that we can control and what we can control, we must control,” she says. “Everybody needs to be conscious and responsible in order to flatten the curve. It is about everyone. I don’t know if it’s laziness or selfishness or ignorance or just general lack of compassion, but we all need to take it seriously, and those who are not need to start taking it seriously now.”
Shiffrin pleads with viewers to practice cleanliness, social distancing and take on the responsibility of speaking up when people in the community aren’t following those controllable actions.
“Tell them that they should be holding themselves accountable, and you are holding them accountable,” she says. “You don’t need to be mean, but don’t be embarrassed to say something because people don’t even realize when they’re not practicing good personal hygiene, and now personal hygiene is really global hygiene.
“The sooner we all do these things, the sooner the panic is going to die down, the sooner the toilet paper will be restocked, the sooner economies will find some form of stability again, and the more likely our loved ones will actually get the care that they need.”
To close the video, Shiffrin saves her most powerful message for the end.
“Lastly, be kind. You never know what someone is going through. This kind of stress and panic that has been going around tends to amplify personal strife, so be kind. Stand together — separately.
“So that’s all I got, for now. I’m wishing everyone the best and I hope you’re all healthy. I know a lot of you aren’t so, sending my thoughts.”
How a Colorado trooper saved a Dew Tour competitor off a gridlocked highway, helping him onto the podium
Colorado State Patrol Trooper Devin Sparks arrived that morning to the scene of a head-on collision between Copper and Leadville on Colorado Highway 91 and was in the process of documenting the crash and assisting the victims when he noticed a man with ski gear hiking his way north to Copper.