In times of crisis, America always finds heroes. We daily thank the doctors and nurses who put their health and lives at risk to battle COVID-19. They serve exhausting hours in their commitment to the Hippocratic Oath. But there are millions more who should be thanked for their heroism.
Let’s recognize and celebrate the others who go the extra mile to fight this invisible killer. My son-in-law is a hero in my book. Every day, he intrepidly goes to work along with one other person and builds the testing equipment so desperately needed.
Postal workers are heroes who fulfill a necessary service every day, handling materials that possibly could be contaminated. Teachers, are heroes, going the extra mile to teach from home, frequently calling students individually to help. Law enforcement and correctional personnel are heroes who cannot always practice social distancing but must maintain order. Farmers are heroes, as are delivery men.
There are millions of American heroes doing small but vital deeds to help. Volunteers going out of their way to contribute to the fight. We all know someone who makes masks for others at no charge; volunteers who risk infection by reaching out to help shut-ins and the less fortunate. Jay Leno produces complicated emergency medical masks out of his garage with his two 3D-printers, and he is not alone in such an endeavor. Thousands of Americans, including teens, are doing the same.
There are heroes in business — both large and small — who shifted gears to produce the medical and safety equipment that has been in such short supply. Craft breweries across the nation are producing hand sanitizer rather than beer. Restaurants changed their operations to provide food safely and in many cases are giving away food to shelters, the homeless and those on the COVID-19 front lines. These are all heroes.
In government, we have heroes. These include the numerous mayors and governors who acted when the federal government stood idly by, offering little guidance, even downplaying the threat. Without their quick responses, there is no telling how much worse America would have been hit. I appreciate Gov. Holcomb’s daily news conferences. They are helpfully informative without any demand for personal praise or passing the blame to others.
Of course, this remains a divided nation, and that means there are anti-heroes as well, and they should be called out. They are those, such as Sean Hannity, who continue insisting this is all overblown, that it is little more than the flu. He falsely tells his faithful audience not to worry because the 19 in the virus’s title means this is the 19th time it has hit, when in fact it represents the year, 2019, it was discovered. It includes Tucker Carlson and his interviewee who falsely claimed to be a Stanford researcher with proof that chloroquine was proven 100% effective in killing this coronavirus. Anti-heroes include the protesters who place more importance on money than people’s lives, demanding an immediate re-opening of society. They include those who mass together at parties or beaches with no concern for others. They are the businesspeople gouging Americans in a time of crisis.
Thank God America’s heroes greatly outnumber those at the other end of the spectrum. I am no hero, but how I serve in this battle is also important. I have self-quarantined since prior to the shut-down. My wife and I religiously observe social distancing, not just for our health but for the safety of others. The great majority of Americans do the same. That doesn’t make us heroes, just common-sense citizens, and the more who show such selfless common-sense, the quicker we will resolve the crisis.
Michael Adkins formerly was chair of the Hancock County Democratic Party.
