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‘Improvise, adapt and overcome’

In the distance we hear the rumble of a rolling thunder and that thunder is COVID-19. The apex of this pandemic will strike the New York City region, already in great peril, in a week or two, and Saranac Lake may follow two weeks later, all according to the facts as we have them right now. This means that come May 1, Saranac Lake may well be in the unprecedented fight — a village that endured and emerged victorious through and after the tuberculosis pandemic, which took millions of lives. The numbers tell us that some of our Saranac Lake family will succumb to this virus, a staggering and heart-rendering prognosis.

Right now, thousands of health care professionals are volunteering and flying into New York to assist the Empire State’s hospitals and COVID-19 victims. Why? Because these heroes care and will always do the right thing. They also know that when their state suffers that rolling thunder, New Yorkers will return their favor 10 times over because, as Americans, we are in this together.

Under self-isolation, now into its third week, Saranac Lakers are antsy, as are billions of people throughout the world. This is a new and terrifying experience for everyone. Patience is at its end for many. The lack of social contact is taking its toll. Many are left without any income whatsoever. Impatience, anxiety and fear are everywhere. Not knowing what is to come makes the feeling worse, and we have so many more weeks to go before this pandemic even comes close to being managed. So how can we once again prevail together?

The United States Marines live out a creed every day, and that principle is to “improvise, adapt and overcome,” and so should we at this critical moment.

¯ Improvise: We will make things work as best we can in both personal and business life using social media and the technology at hand, realizing that not everyone is plugged into the internet and that we have to devise ways to care for our disconnected neighbor. Should they need mental health care after many weeks of isolation, we will guide them to the resources at hand. Should they need food and a roof over their head, we will make that happen, too, as quickly as we can; just contact me.

¯ Adapt: It is not easy to be alone in a house or apartment for weeks on end, but we must adjust to this new reality knowing that it, too, shall one day pass, and that we are protecting human lives in this epic struggle. We can now creatively reach into our mind and soul and use this isolation as an opportunity that we will probably never experience again in our lifetimes to reflect, reprioritize and resurrect, making things better for ourselves and our families. We will figure out ways to pay our way and, with God’s help and sustenance, eat our daily bread, and forgive our trespassers as we forgive those who have trespassed against us. We can and will be better for this ordeal.

¯ Overcome: There will be a lot of blaming when this is all over. Trust me, there will be enough blame to go all around, and the blame and its repercussions will sort out and the results distributed as they should, but it is, and will be, all too late to help us in the here and now, so blame matters not. Yet there will also be a lot of new ideas about preparing for the future. There will be lot of good human experiences in this time of tragedy … and eventual triumph. We will overcome all of this, and it will be hard. Lives will be lost. Homes will be lost. Businesses will be lost. But what should not be lost is our soul, our humanity. Keeping our cool, maintaining our humanness, retaining our perspective, keeping humor — that most human and grounding of traits — and protecting our human bond, with both empathy and sympathy, are our keys to overcoming.

We are here in Saranac Lake, the Capital of the Adirondacks, sharing a struggle with 6 billion other fellow human beings, as one and with one purpose: to live through this ordeal with tremendous resolve, patience and forbearance, to prevail and to be better for it.

We hear the rolling thunder and we will stand steadfast as it passes over as one community, one family and as one people. We will return the favor given us to other regions of the country after the crisis subsides here and the thunder crests in other parts of our nation and their call for help goes out.

Improvise, adapt and overcome.

May God bless us all. Excelsior.

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