One of the more enlightening aspects of the coronavirus pandemic has been its revelation of just how important so many of us are to one another.

To prevent the spread of the virus, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on March 23 ordered Michiganders to stay home unless absolutely necessary and ordered closed all businesses except for a limited list of stores, factories, and others (including the news media) needed to keep society functional during the crisis.

There are obvious essentials. We need grocery stores and the farmers who fill them. We need hand sanitizer and medical equipment. We need toilet paper.

But the hundreds of thousands of Michiganders who’ve filed for unemployment benefits since the start of the crisis are evidence that, in the broader sense, we all are essential to each other’s survival.

We all suffer when restaurants close and waitresses are laid off, when schools shutter and cafeteria staff are sent home, when basketball games are canceled and concessions workers are sent to the unemployment line.

While we each shelter in place, our world seeming to shrink to our own four walls and those in our immediate family, we realize we’re all are part of something bigger. We all play a role in keeping the big world spinning.

When this over and the world returns to normal — and it will — remember that lesson.

Buy an extra cup of coffee from a local barista, an extra trinket from a local jeweler, an extra copy of your local newspaper.

It’s essential.

(THE ALPENA NEWS)