As pandemic surges, where do ‘front-liners,’ business owners find hope?
A public defender in San Diego marvels at the resolve of her clients. A doctor in Providence, Rhode Island, draws strength from the stamina of her emergency room colleagues. A bookstore owner in Minneapolis gives thanks for the loyalty of his customers. A middle school teacher in Los Angeles cherishes the enthusiasm of her students.
Nine months into the coronavirus pandemic, as the number of cases soars, the economy sputters, and everyday life refuses to come unstuck, they face the same obvious yet complicated question that shadows each of us: Where does a person find hope?
Their answers, if varying in details, revolve around the common theme of connection. Our daily interactions – deprived of spontaneity and typically filtered through masks, Zoom, or both – remain a source of reassurance as the uncertain present lurches toward a blurred future.
“There is a sense of being in the foxhole together,” says Dr. Megan Ranney, an emergency physician at Brown University in Providence, referring to her fellow health care workers. “It sometimes feels like we’re in a war for our patients and for ourselves. That tightens the
Bearing witness“We’re all connected”Methods of copingThe virtue of persistence Facts and imagination
