It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom; it was the age of foolishness. It was the epoch of belief; it was the epoch of incredulity.  It was the spring of hope; it was the winter of despair.  The opening lines of of Charles Dickens’ historic novel, TheTale of Two Cities, written in 1859, aptly describe the state of our nation over the past few months.

In February, the economy was booming: the stock market reaching record highs; unemployment at record lows; businesses thriving and people enjoying the amenities of life.  Within a month, the coronavirus Covid 19 became the defining global health crisis of our time causing millions to become ill and over 100,000 to die in our country alone as well as untold economic and emotional distress, crashing like a wave on those least able to cope.

Resources were strained, but through  public and private collaboration human ingenuity designed and initiated policies and programs to slow the spread by increasing production of personal protection equipment, recruiting health care personnel, constructing facilities, testing and treating patients, contact tracking, limiting travel, quarantining citizens, cancelling large get-togethers and closing schools and businesses.

Working together, government and private industry cooperated to bring care, comfort, and an eventual cure and return to health and normalcy. The microscopic monster, our common enemy, has not yet been overcome, but we are working together to achieve victory. We wear masks, stay at home and observe social distancing to do our part for our own benefit as well as that of our neighbors.

On Monday, May 25^th, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, George Floyd was killed in an act of police violence, spurring rightous anger and outrage.  Everyone agreed that the tragedy required justice and reforms, and made this latest victim of longstanding bias a champion of the cause.  But peaceful protests soon exploded into criminal  demonstrations and civil disturbances; fires were set and fueled, vehicles overturned, businesses looted, property destroyed, objects and obscenities hurled; participants and police injured and several people killed. Rather than a benefit, these were a distraction from the cause. Again resources were strained and again policies and programs needed to quell the conflagration.   Conflicting views on how the situation could be resolved added to the mayhem.

On Saturday, May 30^th, the successful launch of the SpaceX capsule showed the world the culmination of NASA’s plan to transition to using a spaceship provided by private industry.  It was the first time since 2011 that a spacecraft was launched from American soil. Most significantly it was the first time that anyone had launched a new type of spacecraft to carry humans to Earth orbit—a whole new way of sending people to space.  In the past decade space agencies had relied on Russia, whose Soyuz crafts were originally designed in the 1960’s.

It was a moment of great pride for the USA, celebrating our loftiest ideals in the combined efforts of government and private enterprise coming together for the great achievement which has limitless possibilities for our species to travel to the moon and beyond.

But elation was overshadowed by escalating protests peppered with hatred and violence.  Destruction, desecration and devastation were rampant in communities throughout the country. However, in the dawn of the morning after, good and kind individuals came forth armed with shovels and brooms to help clean up the physical mess.  The evil minority cannot be allowed to win.   It will take the concerted effort of public and private sectors working together to bring justice, peace, hope and joy back into our lives.

The voices of those marching peacefully in protest must not be silenced; and the paces of progress made to keep us moving forward to a better life must not be allowed to halt. Each of us must do our part.  LovEstelle