Most of us don’t meet the government’s definition of “essential” when it comes to working the front lines of the response to the novel corona virus.
Most of us, that is, are deemed “non-essential.”
And we who are “non-essential” have been given a very short and manageable to-do list: wash your hands, stay at home and/or stay six feet apart.
But none of the “non-essentials” I’ve talked to feel like that’s “enough.” Most of them want to and are doing more.
You’re seeing it everywhere: acts of service, compassion, creativity, problem-solving, and helping hands. Educators, musicians, civil servants, service workers, neighbors, kids, from all walks of life, giving of themselves in innumerable ways and with epic levels of generosity.
These acts and these efforts, in all of their forms, are essential because they lift us up, give us hope, and remind us in tangible ways that we are all connected.
When we get through the worst of this crisis, it will be because the first wave of essential workers fought heroic battles to stem the tide of a terrible virus. It will also be because a second wave of people, those who chose to be essential, contributed their best selves to the effort, reminding all of us just how remarkable and just how powerful it is to be human.
This is the time to be essential.
Being essential is a choice.
Please do what you can.
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