Thread by @ASlavitt

COVID Update January 14: My last nightly thread for a while.

What I want to say is it’s not time for despair. It’s time to fix things and move our country forward. 1/

There was a point in time in this pandemic when we didn’t know up from down.

There was a time when people in charge were describing up as down. 2/

We’ve seen the worst of the worst. We’ve been through hell and we’re not done. We’ve lost things that can’t be regained. We alternate between fear, anger, loss of hope, and occasional real glimpses of life.

But we are surviving and we are remembering. 3/

Extraordinary people are out there. In labs, holding hands w our loved ones, volunteering. And I choose to think of them & all of you when I think of this country.

Not those waving the flag, but those who live its values and try to make us better. 4/

Yes there is ignorance and hate and indifference and selfishness. There always has been and there always will be. But they can’t set our agenda or determine our course. Not for long anyway. 5/

Having a President who cares and who is committed and is not scared and does not take everything personally will be a chance we haven’t had in a while. 6/

The virus is not ready to compromise. And as much as it is known to us, it still has surprises in store.

But it can be defeated. By science. Made easier by leadership and experience. And yet still requiring unity, sacrifice, and patience. 7/

The less unity, sacrifice and patience we have left in us, the more will fall on our front line workers, our essential workers, and people living where there’s no escape.

But I have learned we all have untapped wells of resilience we never knew about. And I think we still do.8/

Our tougher generations have been through depressions, oppression, fighting for the right to vote, to marry, to have autonomy over our own bodies. We won world wars. We know how to triumph. 9/

2021 can be an extraordinary year if we make it so. Setbacks and hard work but little by little, step by step, it’s time we defeat this.

With better leadership, the country will have an opportunity to decide how quickly and how aggressively to support progress. 10/

I’m thinking about the people who haven’t been able to leave your house for months and months.

We need to do this for you. 11/

I’m thinking about my exhausted nurse and doctor friends. People protecting patients and the elderly.

We need to do this for you. 12/

I think of seniors who’ve led a good life and are being abandoned.

We need to do this for you. 13/

I think about people lonely and sad. About people in farm labor camps, imprisoned, crowded, forced to work with the public every day. 14/

People who’ve lost loved ones, who miss loved ones, who have done their best to not put others at risk and don’t know how they will do it another day but they do. 15/

I can’t believe all the people who have lost small businesses and low paying jobs and how well big businesses have done and those with high paying jobs. We must fix ourselves as much as we must fix this. 16/

I’m not discouraged, I’m not hopeless, I’m not frustrated. I’m not tired. I’m not done. I also won’t be out of touch so stay tuned here.

I’m ready to do whatever I can. 17/

Please consider attaching a photo & a sentence of who or what you are hopeful about, determined for, want to remember, or inspire you. The people, the faces, the hopes that keep you going and fighting.

I will stare at them in tough moments. Godspeed. /end

For people leaving messages asking if I’m taking a break, see announcement tomorrow. Or check Google.