It’s no coincidence that Tom Hanks was selected to be the first famous person to step forward with a diagnosis of COVID19. He represents goodness, and marital fidelity, authenticity, and above all we seem to trust him more than others. It’s also not fate that he played the role of Fred Rogers in the movie, A Beautiful Day in Your Neighbourhood. Mr. Rogers was ahead of the curve, and fearless in a time when his message was seen as superfluous or uncool, or too buttoned up.

In a few years, books will be written about COVID19. There will be stories of deprivation, heroism, hoarding, panic, suicide from financial loss, sacrifice, and unusual acts of bravery. There be deaths, and new babies born, family grudges resolved, and new ones formed. And, so I ask you, what character did you play?

From Exodus: And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land…I believe this is a modern message of faith. Faith in each other. Faith that the abandonment of the material world in the short term is a small price to pay for the value of each human being.