By Mayor Brian M. Arrigo
We stand like weary solÂdiers. We are frightened and tired. We are saddened by the growing number of casualties. We endure, strengthened by our passion for survival and ultimate victory.
Where do we find that strength?
Our strength grows from faith. Faith is a trust in something. It is a loyalty to each other, unspoken and unseen, but real though inÂdependent of proof. Faith nourishes us. It is universal and takes as many forms as there are people.
And yet, in times like this, it is easy to understand if our faith is shaken. Our lives are disrupted, we are separated from family and friends, and too many of our neighbors have sucÂcumbed to Covid-19, this uncompromising assailant that has raided our world.
Faith? Faith in what?
My answer, my message to our community is: faith in ourselves. Faith in ourÂselves may derive from religious doctrine, or basic self-confidence, or in ritual and routine. It can be the faith in a higher power or a force greater than humanity itself. It can be manifested in the abiding belief that we will rise up and overcome this plague, just as humanÂkind has persisted and preÂvailed throughout history.
Perhaps by coincidence, we enter what are predictÂed to be the most challengÂing days of this pandemic during the time that the Christian world observes Holy Week, the solemn time of devotion and prayer preceding Jesus’s cruciÂfixion. Also, our Jewish brothers and sisters observe the eight-day festival of Passover, when their foreÂbears were liberated from the chains of slavery.
In these religious obserÂvations, our friends reflect on dark days, when faith was shaken, but never broÂken. And those religious observations ultimately celÂebrate the rewards of their faith.
The times we face toÂday compare with the dark times of history when faith was shaken. Regardless whether any of us practice formal religion, we can—we must—find a refuge in faith. Faith in our medical community and all those who confront Covid-19 daiÂly and fight back against its spread. Faith that our sciÂence will discover the anÂtidote to Covid-19. Faith that the preventative steps all of us are taking will slow and eventually reverse the virus’s upward trend.
Like soldiers in a battle, every one of us has a role, and no role is unimportant. The person who stays home in self-quarantine is as imÂportant as the care providÂer treating a patient. The essential business operaÂtor who implements strict social-distancing requireÂments in the workplace is just as important as the pharmaceutical researchÂers toiling in a laboratory. The volunteers who serve the needy are as important as the neighbors who make a simple telephone call to check in on a friend. EvÂery one of these is an act of faith, an act that we believe will yield positive results.
It is understandable to feel overwhelmed. Right now, and for the next couÂple of weeks, we must brace ourselves for more disturbÂing news and numbers.
But, like the soldier who endures and carries out the mission, we must carry on also, toward survival and victory. Let us not be conÂsumed by despair, but inÂstead let us be strengthened by faith.
I have faith in our comÂmunity, and in our unified effort to protect ourselves and each other. I have faith that we will get through this, and be a stronger and closer community in the end.
This is a time of faith. It might be shaken. It will not be broken.Brian Arrigo is the MayÂor of the City of Revere.
