It is not easy sitting here. The winds are rustling the palm trees outside my doorway.  The Pacific Ocean is deep gray blue telling me that the wind is fierce out to sea. I am 5000 miles away from the city I love as it lives through a virus no one anticipated nor prepared for.

It has changed the world as I knew it. It has changed everyone’s world.

This is one of the most powerful moments in human history but it comes down to something as simple as being able to walk the beautiful streets of Paris. To sit in a cafe, to gather for a musical event or simply to embrace a loved one.  The French experience of suffering is echoed across Europe.

Hero’s are everyday people. They are bringing groceries to the elderly. Volunteering to assist at hospitals and pitching in by being alone. Isolation in a big city is already a challenge and now it is a national imperative.  The war, in the previous century was a war you could see but the same heroism applies.

Already the French spirit has brought the city together as echoes of applause from every apartment and neighborhood are heard throughout the city in the evening.

What I am sure for now, is the French will again live through this war, with high spirits and heroism that is known as the “fighting spirit” of the French.  The heroes may be different but the goal is the same.

It has brought the people of the world together from many neighborhoods, many peoples and places.  Turns out, we are indeed, all in this together.