Our Finest Hour

I recently heard Al Roker say, “This year’s hurricane season has the potential to be one of the worst on record.” I’m sure it’s true, and thousands of people are now dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Laura, but it’s just not something I wanted to hear. It feels like one more thing – hashtag 2020. I won’t recount all of the reasons 2020 has been a difficult year. There are shared reasons we all have dealt with and individual reasons many will never know, but the bottom line is: 2020 has been hard.

Even with all the challenges of this year, I am truly inspired by the resilience, heroism, and compassion I see from so many people. We need look no further than our very own healthcare facilities to be inspired by what people can do, not only in spite of incredible difficulty, but actually because of it. The way our colleagues have risen to the occasion is truly an example of the Power of One. We have seen how important it is to care for each other.

This year makes me think of one of my favorite movies, Apollo 13. There’s a well- known scene where the NASA crew in Houston is waiting to find out if the astronauts are going to land safely or if they’re going to be lost forever to space. While they’re waiting, two men are talking, and one of them lists all the problems: “We got the parachute situation, the heat shield, the angle of the trajectory and the typhoon.” The other says, “This could be the worst disaster NASA’s ever experienced.” Standing nearby is Flight Director Gene Kranz, who delivers his famous line, “With all due respect sir, I believe this is going to be our finest hour.”

I don’t know if we will look back at 2020 and call it our “finest hour.” It’s not a year many of us will remember fondly. If we did call it our “finest hour,” though, it would be because of all the heroes we encountered this year and all the ways we discovered that we can save each other. It would be because of all the examples that we can talk about forever of what the Power of One is. I’m certain each of you could tell dozens of stories about where you’ve seen that power this year. In 2020, we are learning about how hard things can be, but we are also learning about how much we mean to each other and the difference we can make.