Here’s to the health care workers who put it on the line every day to tend to the needs of those who are ill and require healing from this novel (new) unseen pathogen.
And here’s to the emergency services personnel, pharmacists, government officials, cleaning professionals, food vendors, food shelf volunteers, eldercare workers, lawmakers, newspaper reporters and others who are out working and in contact with the public in order to keep everyone safe, informed and supplied with essentials during critical efforts to thwart the spread of COVID-19.
We are all vulnerable, to varying degrees, to the coronavirus genome — that invisible speck of genetic material that is nothing without the human cell. The virus preys on the human desire to connect with others, to reach out and touch one another. It hitchhikes on our compassion and leaps onto those we love.
But we have something that a virus does not: The capacity to open our hearts and the human desire to care for one another.
Paradoxically, the best way to protect each other now is 6 feet of separation, so that COVID-19 cannot bridge the gap to a new host — be it a friend, family member or someone who is simply standing in line or passing by.
A virus is capable of taking over our cells, but it cannot subvert the two things that we will use to defeat it: Our hearts and our minds. Humankind’s ability to muster knowledge, discipline and grace in the midst of a global pandemic will vanquish this invisible foe. In time — when the threat has subsided — a handshake, a hug and a kiss will be all the more sweet.
And the corona that prevails, and is ever with us, will shine down from where it surrounds the warmth and light of our home star.
Michael J. Caduto, of Reading, Vt., is author and co-author of more than 20 books, including The New York Times best-selling Keepers of the Earth. He is founder and director of Programs for Environmental Awareness & Cultural Exchange (www.p-e-a-c-e.net) and works as executive director of Sustainable Woodstock.