Times Union (Albany, N.Y.)
The Revolutionary War didn't start with the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The colonies had actually been fighting Great Britain for more than a year before that. By the time the war ended in 1783, it had gone on for more than eight years and four months.
The nation born of that revolution went on to survive a Civil War nearly four years long, and two world wars, the second of which stretched over three years and nine months. It endured a Great Depression that lasted three years and seven months, and embarked on an eight-year quest to put a human being on the moon.
And here we are, hardly three months into a pandemic, and some of us are so cranky we can't stand another minute of it. Screaming in public meetings. Brandishing guns in public. Pushing store clerks around.
It's not the suffering of 2.6 million of our fellow Americans who have contracted the coronavirus, or the deaths of more than 127,000 of those men, women and children that has us so anguished and enraged.
It's having to wear a mask. Being told to keep our distance from others. Not being able to eat out or get a haircut.
And somehow this has all become convoluted for some into a violation of their God-given rights, fueling a patriotism so trivial that it disgraces the true sacrifices of those who founded, built, and protected the nation of which we are the caretakers at this moment in history.
This is, we know, a scary time. Millions are without work, relying on savings and what help they can get from a government led by a president who sets a tone of indifference and encourages a denialism. We face a long wait for a vaccine.
Yet for all the coronavirus' fearsomeness, all that the vast majority of us are called on to do is not get sick and not sicken others. Wear a mask, keep our distance. Rethink habits, rituals and ceremonies that, for the moment, could prove deadly.
It may sound so easy as to be pointless, but it's how we save thousands of lives and bring a more timely end to a crisis that is wreaking havoc on our economy. It's how we open again.
These are, as the revolutionary Thomas Paine wrote, times that try men's souls. He warned of "the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot"--those who, in a crisis, "shrink from the service of their country."
Patriotism, at this moment, in this crisis, isn't taking up arms. It's going a little out of your way to not infect yourself, your loved ones, or your fellow Americans.
So put on a mask. Keep your distance. Wash your hands. And have a safe and happy Fourth of July--and every day after, till this is over. As it shall be.