“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”
Fred Rogers

This Sunday as we sit and try to digest all that has transpired in the last ten days, it is a great time to pause and think about what a few special people are now doing for all of us. As always looking to history helps us understand current challenges.

“Never was so much owed by so many to so few.”
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, 20 August 1940.

Churchill used that famous line in a speech during The Battle of Britain in World War Two, while honoring the bravery and sacrifice of the outnumbered British Air Force fighting off the German Luftwaffe and defending their nation. That quote could easily be applied today to some exceptionally brave people in this country……

Many people in addition to Churchill’s ‘Few’ worked to defend Britain. Ground crews looked after the aircraft. Factory workers helped keep aircraft production up. Volunteers ensured that the thousands of observation posts were continuously manned. Members of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) served as radar operators and worked as plotters, tracking raids in the group and sector operations rooms.
It truly was a team effort.

Here in America, our citizen’s remarkable acts of bravery and sacrifice in times of crisis have made this great country survive and thrive.
That will continue to happen.

In 1776 Continental Congress in Philadelphia authored one of the most profound documents in the history of mankind. The founders set out to create a new nation. One conceived in liberty, where individual rights were to be absolute and where freedom would reign supreme. In an extraordinary act of bravery and patriotism, 56 men signed the Declaration of Independence and The United States was formed. For over 240 years, The U.S. has endured a long and arduous journey to keep the nation alive.

On D-Day, it was our soldiers who ran straight at the Nazis. During many wars and conflicts it was the military, with the support and sacrifice at home of military families, who led our battles for freedom. On 9/11 it was the firefighters who ran into burning buildings to save lives as others were running out.
Today during our newest battle it’s the doctors and nurses, running straight to danger as the rest of the world isolates from it. Others are volunteering for new drug trials. Don’t forget the grocery store clerks, cashiers, baggers…. the bank tellers…..the take out drive thru kids……truckers who deliver goods….the post office, the ups and fed ex workers…….the cafeteria workers and housekeeping staffs at the hospitals……..and of course all the other first responders, paramedics and EMTs.

They are the best of us.

But like Churchill’s Britain, it is going to take a team effort. Let’s all think about that and try to do what we can to help and do our part. Take the situation seriously but let’s not panic. Help where you can….heed the advice of the scientists and experts. The country has been through a lot and will get through this.

Because of the helpers.