Editor’s Note: This week’s Mayor’s Message was written by Harrison Township Committeewoman Julie DeLaurentis.
Moving Forward
Here we are, mid-May in the continuing midst of the virus. Zoom meetings, virtual … (fill in the blank), online shopping for paper towels, and daily national, state and county coronavirus data. My friends have stopped sending me funny videos and cartoons about COVID-19. We, collectively, are now waiting to move forward.
Yes, as we are continuously reminded, we are in this together. However, there are increasingly stark differences. Some of us will have the great fortune to keep our health and professions intact. Others will lose one or both to the coronavirus pandemic.
Author Damian Barr wrote this about the COVID-19 situation:
“I heard that we are in the same boat.
But it’s not that.
We are in the same storm, but not in the same boat.
Your ship can be shipwrecked and mine might not be.
Or vice versa.
For some, quarantine in optimal: a moment of reflection, or re-connection.
Easy, in flip-flops, with a whiskey or tea.
For others, this is a desperate crisis.
For others, it is facing loneliness.
For some, peace, rest time, vacation.
Yet for others, Torture: How am I going to pay my bills?”
As a community, a state and a nation we are now planning and defining our re-opening. Again, we are all in this together but there isn’t a one size fits all model that can encompass the diversity of our big, beautiful country. We are all afraid of the danger of opening too quickly and the danger of keeping our businesses closed. As we work through the planning and implementation of re-opening, let’s try to be patient with one another, hope that lifting our restrictions succeeds and take swift action if we have set backs.
In Harrison Township we have a huge advantage. We are fortunate that we live in a community that genuinely cares about one another and works together to support and sustain each other. People and businesses in our township are continually offering their time and talents to help others in Harrison Township. Please continue to stand together, support each other and look forward to our collective future. We are Harrison Strong!
