Say thanks to these resilient Texans as we all chip in to defeat coronavirus

Believe it or not, it’s been about a week.

A week since the president, the governor and our local leaders declared the spread of coronavirus to be an emergency, a disaster. A week that many of us have been at home, quickly moving from bemusement and boredom to frustration and fear. A week filled with a scary spiral in the number of cases, signs of economic doom and speculation that we could all be penned up for weeks or months.

So many questions about our health and livelihoods linger, and there’s so much uncertainty about how long this lasts and how our communities and our country recover.

But we should all take a moment to recognize and give thanks for a quality that is shining through all the darkness: Texas resilience.

Gov. Greg Abbott highlighted it Thursday even as he announced unprecedented limitations on where Texans can go and how they can gather. He recalled the extraordinary volunteer efforts to help Gulf Coast residents during Hurricane Harvey.

“At a time when streets had turned into rivers, the way Texans responded, they got out their bass boats and went into those water streams to help others,” Abbott said, adding: “No one responds to challenges better than Texans. So let’s muster our traditional Texas spirit and together, defeat COVID-19.”

The amount of change to our lives and our work in just a few days is astonishing, but so is the way so many Fort Worth and North Texas residents have adapted. Sure, it’s easy to find tales of irresponsibility on social media, or to shake your head at people gobbling up toilet paper and other goods in amounts they can’t possibly use.

Less visible, but so much more important, are those working so hard to help all of us get through it. Plenty of people are pitching in to help others, even while distancing from them.

Start with health care workers. Even under normal circumstances, they work long hours and take unusual risks. The worst levels of the infection probably haven’t arrived in the Dallas-Fort Worth area yet, so our doctors, nurses, emergency responders and other caretakers could be in for a deluge. They deserve thanks for what they’ve done and will do.

Let’s also give a nod of appreciation to the stockers, clerks, pharmacists and cashiers who are keeping us supplied. Plenty of us are nervous about the exposure of going shopping; imagine handling money, cleaning up the aisles and wrangling carts touched by God-only-knows how many hands. Plus, anyone who’s worked a service job knows some customers can be difficult even when things are calm; add a layer of societal anxiety and long lines and you can bet plenty of service workers are getting chewed out in ways they never imagined and do not deserve.

Call us selfish, but let’s hear a shout-out for news reporters, too. Reliable information is crucial, as is holding leaders accountable for decisions made, past and present. Journalists take risks, too, by being in public and interacting with people to tell stories. Most are doing it selflessly, and while errors do happen, most want to get it right and serve their communities.

The resilience and patience we’re seeing are inspiring, and they’ll be needed in multiples in the days ahead. Texans must prepare themselves for the possibility of more isolation to fight the disease. Illness will spread, uncertainty will build, and the task that lies ahead may appear daunting.

Remember who we’re doing this for -- the most vulnerable among us. The more we do to slow the spread of COVID-19, the fewer people with underlying health conditions will get it. Lives will be saved.

Take it from that quintessential Texas ambassador, Matthew McConaughey. In a popular online video, he pointed toward optimism, “values of fairness, kindness, accountability, resilience, respect, courage. … This time might be the one time that brings us all together and unifies us like we have not been in a long time.”

Savor signs of hope, mercy and grace. We should all be inspired by one of the first Fort Worth residents to triumph over the disease, the Rev. Robert Pace of Trinity Episcopal Church of Fort Worth.

“Whether we are quarantined or simply doing our part to keep this thing from spreading … we are all breathing the same God-given air,” he said in a written statement.

He added: “We are called always to be filled with life anew. God breathes upon us in all we do.”