Thank you for being part of the solution

Heroes don't always wear capes or get featured on front pages. Sometimes heroes are those who show courage and bear hardship for the common good. They're the ones who reach out to help the powerless or the vulnerable. The ones who do what is right even if no one notices.

All of you who are abiding by the coronavirus precautions: thank you. You are facing inconvenience and disruption, uncertainty and isolation, in order to protect those directly at risk and to preserve the health care system so it can continue to respond to emergencies for all of us. You are saving lives and saving society. It is no trivial thing, and you should be proud of your civic duty. Thank you.

To all the front-line workers—the doctors and nurses and emergency personnel, the scientists and public health officials: a double thank-you for putting yourselves on the line, for taking very personal risks so that we may all be better off. To all the people who are keeping our infrastructure lights on---the power grid and running water, the data centers and communications networks: thank you for keeping us connected and safe while we all do our part to slow down the spread of this virus.

As you know, the prevention measures indicate that we physically isolate ourselves in order to prevent the transmission of the virus. The epidemiological name for this strategy is "social distancing." It's an accepted term but unfortunate, in my opinion, because what we are doing is actually increasing social cohesion. We are all working together to get through this crisis with a minimum of death and suffering. We're physically distancing ourselves from each other for now, as we should, but our social ties are actually becoming stronger. I see this in the stories of people checking in on their elderly neighbors. I see this in the stories of residents working together to provide food for kids who now can't get much-needed school lunches. I see this in the stories of individuals offering to take care of domestic tasks for front-line workers so they can concentrate on their critical work.

These are difficult, trying times; there's no denying that. But it is in crises like these that the best of humanity comes to the surface, as we support each other to defeat this common enemy. Thank you for being part of the solution. We have a long road ahead of us, but we'll get through this together.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Technology Provides Tools, Not Panaceas

A Growth