Reconnect? Humanity is man’s greatest weapon
It is hard for me as a columnist to find the right words when the unimaginable has become real — and what is real is still unimaginable.
What more can be said about a pandemic that in less than a month has altered our lives, sickened thousands of people and has taken away family members without the comfort of a final goodbye?
What words are right in a time when a keyboard and monitor is the new way of communicating and an elbow bump is the new handshake?
Should the words be comforting and full of optimism about the future? Or should they be full of rage against leadership that has not only allowed this to happen but exposed just how vulnerable the American people really are?
We have known since Sept. 11, 2001, that our country could be susceptible to things such as chemical warfare. And while we are not under that type of attack, isn’t COVID-19 creating the same type of mass emergency scenario that it would produce?
If that is the case, not only did our leaders not have a plan in place for hospitals, health care workers and businesses should a national catastrophe strike, there wasn’t even a contingency plan.
That means (at least to me) that no president since 2001 has sought to stockpile emergency medical supplies and equipment or have a plan ready to be immediately implemented.
That is as scary as the empty shelves in the supermarkets and warehouse stores.
As one reader called to tell me Friday morning, “we just seemed to be so unprepared. How can that be?”
Maybe that is why I am struggling to find the right words and tone for this column.
Like many Americans, my rational thought process tells me we will get through this, but I admit, that process is constantly interrupted by my emotions.
I can’t help but worry about how much damage COVID-19 will eventually do to the nation and, more importantly, if it will affect my family and the people that I care about.
And I know these same worries are on the minds of other people about their own families as we face the unknown, happiness has been put on hold, and the darker side of brotherly love rears its ugly head.
But maybe some good can come out of this.
Maybe we can take this time and rediscover who and what we are as Americans because we know what has kept and keeps America strong.
We know that when we unite together, there is no tighter knot of resistance than that of the American spirit to prevail against anything or anybody that tries to threaten our way of life.
We know it was by working together, building together and fighting together that got us through dark periods in our history.
And we have gotten through them by using man’s greatest achievement: humanity.
It is the most powerful weapon we have as a people and every American has been pre-approved to use it.
It is that ability to love and have compassion for one another and also care what happens to one another that is going to eventually allow us to overcome COVID-19.
Like many people, I was wondering what I could do to help others and at the same time, remain socially distanced.
Since many of my readers have reached that golden age and some live alone, I started calling or emailing them to wish them well. They remain optimistic.
As I wrote in how Americans responded to the disastrous floods in Harvey, Texas, “We may fight like brothers and sisters and at times go after one another like despised cousins but one thing we know: we are in this together.”
Once again, the eyes of history are upon us.
A hundred years from now, future generations of Americans will read in history books how we responded to what could be the worst threat of the 21st century.
The only question will be, what kind of legacy will we leave them to read?
I said at the beginning of this column that words are hard to find when the unimaginable has become real.
We now know how real the unimaginable can be.
And I know one thing with absolute certainty: we are in this together — and we will only emerge together if we look out for each other.
Reconnect? Humanity is man’s greatest weapon.