Today we find ourselves at the beginning of August. That means the new school year should be beginning, baseball should be entering the runup to the playoffs, football should be teed up, and fall weddings and festivals should be just around the corner. Instead, it seems school will be pushed back, baseball just had Opening Day, and football may or may not happen at all. Weddings that were postponed from spring or summer may have to be rearranged again, as will our other favorite fall gatherings. Are you frustrated? Just “over” the whole thing? Me too. But we have to keep going. We have to keep living, working, playing and praying.
Throughout human history, people and peoples have had to deal with frustrations like this, and much, much worse. Pandemics, wars, droughts and floods, evil empires, and seemingly insurmountable human conflict and mistreatment have plagued mankind since our beginnings. The resolve to not only survive but to thrive has always come from the character and conduct of individuals. Solving problems and caring for each other is done by people much more than by governments. Our present situation and the solutions it requires are no different in that regard.
As much as we wish it were possible, none of us can solve this alone. There are individuals all over America working on pieces of the solution, from vaccines and therapies to how we can safely return to work, school and social activities, even if under anything but normal circumstances. And you have a part to play. Even if you can’t understand the science or make sense of the overwhelming amount of (often-conflicting) data, research and political posturing, there are three pieces of guidance we can all agree on. They all depend on individuals to do the right thing:
- Keep a safe physical distance between you and people you don’t live with
- Wash your hands often
- Wear a mask when you can’t keep a safe distance from others
We can’t postpone life. We can’t cancel everything and hide in our homes forever. We have to find a way to keep going, and science is showing us how. It’s clear that if we do these things as individuals, and follow some specific guidelines for certain situations in workplaces, schools and so on, we can continue to earn a living, learn and grow, and enjoy the company of friends and family even while we wait for the big solutions that will put all this behind us.
Lots of expressions have been coined over the years to help people in a case like ours endure until a brighter day. The British are especially good at it: Keep a Stiff Upper Lip. Keep Calm and Carry on. Don’t Give Up the Ship. Those mottos from crises past will serve us well today. We have to get through this without the cost of our liberties, our lives or our livelihoods. We will find our way. And we will find ourselves looking at all this in the rearview mirror. Let’s behave now in a way that will make us proud then
