This past Friday marked the 10th anniversary of a life-changing event for my family. The lessons learned on that long-ago day have been on my mind as we all deal with the coronavirus.
Shortly after 5 in the morning, a police officer knocked on our door and told us to prepare for evacuation. The hotel next door was engulfed in flame. By 6, despite the amazing efforts of volunteer firefighters, our house was gone. And, when I say gone, I mean completely. The appliances melted. There was nothing left. Everything physical that we had accumulated through more than 20 years of marriage was reduced to ashes.
We escaped with a laptop computer and the clothes on our back. Fortunately, I stuck my wallet in my jeans so we had some credit cards and cash.
We needed to buy shoes for my son because he left the house in slippers. I needed a jacket because it was cold out. We had prescriptions that needed to be replaced along with toothbrushes. A local hotel gave us a room until we could figure out what was next. We spent over $800 at Target that day and $700 at Wal-Mart the next. The insurance adjuster told us to keep our receipts and gave us a healthy advance.
The blaze took out a B&B, a hotel and six houses. More than 200 firefighters worked tirelessly in a chilly Nor’easter to contain the damage. A local Christian organization opened its doors, the Red Cross set up shop and our community grieved. But we all recognized how lucky we were since nobody died or was seriously hurt.
My faith helped me through months of shock and rebuilding. So did my community.
The outpouring of support was unbelievable. I can’t tell you how many people offered us clothes or food or a place to stay. Some belonged to our church. Others did not. Some I had never before met. Restaurants offered us free meals. It got to be so much that we had to remind everybody we were OK; we had good insurance and our health. There were people in other parts of the world that needed help more than we did.
It was emotionally exhausting.
On that chilly day in March, and in the months that followed, we needed our local government, our insurance company, our church, local businesses, our neighbors and the kindness of strangers to get through something I hope you never experience. It was truly an all-hands-on-board effort. Nothing else would have sufficed.
I see that same thing happening again today, including the emotional exhaustion.
The initial response to the coronavirus in our country was discussions held in households while the threat seemed far away in China. When Americans heard of the first U.S. deaths in Washington state, the concern grew and people began to address their travel plans. A few weeks ago, my wife and I decided not to attend my niece’s wedding in Washington state. Ultimately, all out-of-town guests made the same decision. It was truly heartbreaking for my niece, but nothing else could be done.
Individual precautions quickly escalated to the cancellation of everything from sports events to Broadway shows. Companies, governments and charitable agencies sent updates to their customers, constituents and supporters. The volume was so great that Americans received four times their usual number of emails.
Just as it did 10 years ago for my family, every day brings new reminders of how people working together in community roll up their sleeves and get things done.
Governments, of course, are also playing a key role in the entire effort. President Donald Trump initially banned travel from China and later from European countries. Governors and local officials declared states of emergency and some banned large gatherings of any kind. Emergency funding has been provided and more is on the way.
I do not mean in any way to suggest that everything is fine and working smoothly. The threat is real, and mistakes have been made along the way. There are significant concerns about how much stress our health care system can take, how many people will be impacted and how many will die. There are also huge questions about the economic impact, especially worrisome for those who live paycheck to paycheck.
However, the good news is that America is responding, not just our government. Things may very well get worse before they get better, but solutions will be found only when we take advantage of all the resources at our disposal. Every individual, relationship and organization has a role to play. That’s the way America is supposed to work.
And, there is one final lesson from my experience with that terrible fire.
When the crisis is over, things will return to a sense of normalcy. But they will never be the same. There will be changes to our daily routines, the way we work and the social gatherings we attend. There will be flashbacks to times before the crisis, stories to share and gratitude for those who helped. For some, like my niece, there will also be a lifetime memory of “you’ll never believe what I did during the coronavirus crisis.”
We will also learn that different isn’t worse. Even as the details of how we do community change, our nation will continue working together in community to create a better world.
Scott Rasmussen is an American political analyst and digital media entrepreneur. He is the author of “The Sun is Still Rising: Politics Has Failed But America Will Not.”