America 1918 and 2020

We have been here before and while millions died our country survived. It can happen again. Reading the daily newspapers from October of 1918. Our country was fighting World War I. Women were fighting for the right to vote. We also were fighting the influenza pandemic. In Rochester, young men and women were serving selfishly overseas. In Rochester, dozens of people were dying a day from the influenza epidemic. The Red Cross, which was largely a woman’s organization, was leading the fight to save lives. They were working with male allies and largely male organizations to do this.

This is an excerpt from the paper on 10/30/1918.

“One man had three children all carried out of the hospital dead. He was almost insane.

Another man has lost his wife in the epidemic. Their little girl was ill in this hospital at the time, and he comes to see her with a self-possession that is remarkable. Although broken-hearted, he goes to the little girl’s bedside and tells her some pretty story to make her happy, that the news of her mother’s death may not be broken to her until she has recovered. He comes down from the children’s ward, leaving her as happy as he finds her.

Among those passing out yesterday was a mother who already had lost her husband and youngest child in the epidemic. While she fell into her last sleep her little girl was playing in the cot next to her.”

So America has been here before. This is not a new tragedy. It is survivable. While too many individuals are dying, America can work its way through this, but this will only be if we work on this together. America was largely united in 1918. That does not mean that there was no politics. In fact, 1918 was a national election year. There were five major parties fielding candidates in NY. But there was a common purpose. We can have that again. We need that again. So let’s stop playing the political game. Let’s start focusing on what unites us, instead of what divides us. Let our politicians know that we demand better from them, no matter what their party. Let’s remember that we are Americans. Those families in 1918 should inspire us, and we should be able to make them proud.