I work in Huntington Village. Today was picture-perfect: light breeze, comfortable temps, brilliant sunny blue sky. But parking lots were half empty, street traffic light, pedestrian traffic even lighter, and lots of choice seats were available at Starbucks. People are beginning to hunker down for the tsunami named coronavirus that is bearing down upon us. In the movie Titanic, when ship builder Mr. Andrews is told that his crippled ship can’t sink, he replies “it’s a mathematical certainty.” I’m afraid it’s like that.
As I sipped my morning coffee on a Main Street bench and observed the seemingly-idyllic scene, it was hard to wrap my head around what is coming. China shut down. South Korea shut down. Italy shut down. Spain shut down. France shut down. Right now we’re shutting down … a little. But as a suburb of one of the largest cities in the world, I think we’ll be hit hard, and I imagine we’ll be following the lead of our Asian and European friends in relatively short order.
I use the word “friends” (above) with specific intention. This virus doesn’t recognize national borders. It doesn’t care about race. Or ethnicity. Or religion. And it doesn’t care if you hail from a democratic or totalitarian regime. All it cares about is that you are a member of a very special community, named homo sapiens.
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And so, on this day, I think to myself that we are all in this together. Every state in the United States, blue or red, and every nation in the place we call home: Earth. This is a unifying event of the grandest scale. Wouldn’t it be nice if, after we get through this, that we remember this. And especially to honor those of us who won’t get through this. Be safe.
From my blog post “Just Sayin.”
