A Band of Brothers and Sisters

We are all burned out on the topic of Coronavirus, and truly, none of us would keep our sanity if we lived coronavirus 24/7.

Except, there are people who do live coronavirus 24/7, so people like me can stay home.  It's humbling, to say the least.

As I blogged about on Sunday, I've disagreed with some of what our our Governor, Andrew Cuomo, has proposed over the years.  However, I've been inspired by his daily COVID-19 press conferences. 

Last week, I listened as Cuomo talked to the Army Corp of Engineers gathered at New York City to do battle against COVID-19 and I wrote this down as he spoke:  "This is going to be a long day, an ugly day, a sad day...this enemy attacks the weakness of us. It attacks our most vulnerable...these are our parents and grandparents, our aunts and uncles."

Cuomo continued: "You are living a moment of history.  This is one of the moments of history they will write about in history..a moment that forges character, forges people, changes people, makes them stronger...10 years from now you'll be talking about today to your children or grandchildren and you will shed a tear, because you will remember...the faces, and the names [of those who died], and how hard we worked...and you should...but you will also be proud of what you did.  You will be proud that you showed up....now go out and kick coronavirus' ass."

I am not an avid reader of Shakespeare but those who are were immediately reminded of a speech given by Henry V of England before he and his men went into battle during the 100 Years War against the French at Agincourt.  It is called the "St Crispin's Day Speech" because it was given on the eve of St. Crispin's Day, 1415.  The English, greatly outnumbered, are camped, knowing they would go into battle the next day.

"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers", King Henry V (back in the day when kings and emperors went to war with their troops) exhorts his troops. He reminds them that, one day in the future, others will wish they had been at the front lines of the battle.

Now it's time for us to forget blue and red and remember the red, white, and blue, to paraphrase another Cuomo press conference speech.  It is time to become a Band of Brothers and Sisters and put our differences aside.

Lourdes Hospital, Binghamton, New York, March 29, 2020

This, fellow brothers and sisters, is part of the front line of the battle. We don't see the inside of these buildings but we see this.  Near every ER where I live in New York, we see the triage tents.

Waiting....

Tomorrow starts the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.  26 days, 26 letters of the alphabet, starting with "A" on April 1.  I invite you to join me for my theme "America the Beautiful". It may be more a local theme than I had originally envisioned. But I hope the beauty of art, flowers, and sunsets will inspire you as you join the world against the foe we all are fighting, each in our own way.

(And, by the way....the English won the battle.)