Heroes For Our Time
By Ann Schockett, NFRW President
Last Wednesday night, my family like so many Jewish families gathered around our respective computer screens for a virtual Seder. My grandson, who is a kindergartner, put on a YouTube video and began chanting along with the four questions. “Why is this night different from all other nights?...”
Beyond the traditional responses, the answers this year are obvious and say so much about the ingenuity, the resiliency, and the spirit of shared sacrifice we are seeing from the American people.
Passover and Easter this year were different and strange. And significant. We felt the need, more than ever, to be connected – and we are fortunate that in such a time, we can stay connected.
As Americans continue to weather our current health and economic crises created by the coronavirus, President Donald J. Trump offered encouragement last week: “There is a light at the end of the tunnel… I am confident, that we can come out on the other side, based on the data and based on what I know about the American people.”
I am proud of our country. For the most part, Americans are heeding the President’s advice and staying at home. We are adapting to what, if not a new normal, is our current reality.
More than adapting. We do not yet know how long it will be to clear the tunnel, but we don’t have to we get to the end to see the light. The lights are all around us.
As President of the National Federation of Republican Women, I get reports daily of ways the women in our clubs around the country are stepping up to help their communities. A club in Texas made over 200 masks and presented them to the county sheriff’s office. A New York club sponsored a peanut butter and jelly drive so children who rely on meals from now-closed school would not go hungry. There are wellness checks on the elderly and learning lists for the young. The list goes on.
Every day, Americans like my daughter are on the front lines, fighting this invisible and lethal enemy.
My daughter is the director of inpatient palliative medicine at an academic medical center. She faces serious illness and death every single day. As a mother, I worry. A lot. But outweighing the worry is pride. So, I do a lot of praying – more now than I can ever remember.
I pray for my daughter and for my other children and grandchildren. I pray for all those who are on the front lines in this fight, from the medical personnel and other first responders to the truck drivers and those keeping our grocery stores and pharmacies operating. They too are shining beacons of light who are helping us navigate an otherwise dark tunnel.
Unquestionably the most important guiding light in this crisis is President Trump. I cannot imagine anyone else leading our nation during this tumultuous time.
We will never know how many American lives were saved by President Trump’s swift imposition of a travel ban for China in January – before the virus claimed its first American victim.
The President has focused the full resources of the federal government in the fight, put politics aside to work with Governors and with Congress. He has slashed through the red tape that could get in the way of treatments and vaccines and slow relief to families and businesses.
His personal commitment is obvious in the daily briefings, providing an unprecedented level of transparency to the American people.
He has been a leader, in every sense of the word.
America is a nation of survivors. We have been through crises before and have come out better. And we are going to come through this one. I know we will, because our tunnel is lit by millions of points of light.
Ann Schockett was elected president of the National Federation of Republican Women (NFRW) at the 40th Biennial Convention in Indianapolis and took office in January 2020. Founded in 1938, the NFRW is the largest grassroots Republican women’s organization in the nation. NFRW provides a forum for women to serve as leaders in the political, government, and civic arenas. NFRW objectives are to recruit, train and elect Republican candidates, promote the principles of the Republican Party, educate the public and protect the integrity of our electoral process.
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