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Focus: Captain Tom; centenarian COVID-19 survivors; plus books
“THAT’S ONE SMALL step for man,” Neil Armstrong declared as he began his historic lunar walk 51 years ago this summer. But this April, when Capt. Tom Moore, 99, took his own first step en route to completing 100 laps of his Bedfordshire garden to raise money for the National Health Service Charities Together, the British Second World War vet may as well have been walking on a distant planet himself. After all, a deadly pandemic had gripped the globe, shuttering shops, isolating humans and bringing civilization to a standstill.
And yet, hunched over a walker, Captain Tom began walking, as he told the BBC, “for the sake of the nurses and the NHS we have because they are doing such a magnificent job.” The NHS helped him during a battle with skin cancer and a broken hip in recent years, so he set out to raise £1,000 by his 100th birthday. Three weeks later – following global press and lighting up social media – he marked the birthday milestone with a total of £31 million raised (almost C$55 million). In a world rife with division both political and generational, Captain Tom became a hero we could all root for.
“Always remember, tomorrow will be a good day”
Celebrities and members of the Royal Family recognized Captain Tom’s efforts – including Queen Elizabeth II, who promoted him to the rank of Honorary Colonel on his centenary – while British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called him “a point of light in all our lives.” Captain Tom even participated in a charity recording of the Rodgers and Hammerstein tune “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” which topped the U.K.’s Big Top 40 chart, while admirers overwhelmed his local post office with birthday cards and continue to call for a knighthood.
But like Neil Armstrong’s space walk, what resonates most about Captain Tom’s garden walk is how it electrified others – including fellow nonagenarians in the U.K.– to push beyond their own physical boundaries to start their own charity walks and raise hundreds of thousands of pounds for the NHS in the process.
Of course, the world is still combating the coronavirus – which poses the greatest mortality risk to seniors with underlying conditions. Yet, amid the tragedy, it’s a man of advanced age who rose up and inspired the world to summon its collective strength, optimism and selflessness to face the crisis head on and help others in need, all accompanied by a reassuring message to “always remember, tomorrow will be a good day.”