Today is March 17th, 2020, and like every other March 17th since 1975 it has been not only St. Patrick’s Day, but also our older son’s birthday, both a cause for celebration.
This year is different.
Although we still celebrate with joy the birth of our first child, and continue to honor St Patrick’s Day by preparing a version of Corned Beef and Cabbage, this year we find ourselves as does the rest of the world in the midst of a global pandemic caused by the Coronavirus, or COVID-19.
This is a time like no other.
The Director-General of the World Health Organization in his briefing yesterday, closed with these remarks…
“This is the defining global health crisis of our time.
The days, weeks and months ahead will be a test of solidarity.
Crises like this tend to bring out the best and worst in humanity.
Like me, I’m sure you have been touched by the videos of people applauding health workers from their balconies, or the stories of people offering to do grocery shopping for older people in their community.
This amazing spirit of human solidarity must become even more infectious than the virus itself. Although we may have to be physically apart from each other for awhile, we can come together in ways we never have before.
We’re all in this together. And we can only succeed together.
So the rule of the game is: together.”