My friend Paine, on the autism spectrum and on the frontline, continues his chronicle of our strange times:

“Imagine all the people, living life in peace, you may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one, I hope someday you’ll join us and the world will live as one.”

When John Lennon first sang those words, he called for people of his generation to come together to help make a better world. I think that those words ring true now more than ever.

I’ve said many times that things were going to get better and I stand by those words but the way they get better is if we make them better. We cannot just sit around waiting for someone to find a way to get us out of our current situation with this virus, we ourselves need to get up and help make things better, then we will not only advance as a nation but as human beings.

I know things seem bleak now and some people might think that it’s hopeless but it’s not, now more than ever we need to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and face this challenge head on.

This virus has dealt us a huge blow, now is the time for us to get up and fight back against it in whatever way we can, whether it be by practicing social distancing or by giving to charity or by simply thanking all our first responders.