'Without empathy, nothing works'
A TIME profile of chef José Andrés—and other good news from this week
In the midst of the crisis, it helps to focus on the helpers and the heroes. This virus feels big and heavy, affecting our health, our jobs and our stability. But I’m comforted by the leaders who are stepping up to serve their corner of the world.
This week, I’m featuring a TIME interview with chef José Andrés. You may recognize him from his work in hurricane relief. His charity World Central Kitchen prepared nearly 4 million meals for the residents of Puerto Rico after the wreckage of Hurricane Maria in 2017. Now, he’s taking on his next mission: feeding the world in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
His story is a beautiful encapsulation of what it means to selflessly use your talents to help others.
“If you spend more time on your fears than your hopes, on your resentments than your compassions, and you divide people up, in an interdependent world, bad things are going to happen,” Bill Clinton tells TIME. “If that’s all you do, you’re not helping the people who have been victimized or left behind or overlooked. He’s a walking model of what the 21st century citizen should be.”
My Favorite Reads
How to hope: lessons from a children’s hospital (Chris Adrian, The New Yorker)
“Working with families over months and years teaches you to hope that life reconstitutes on the other side of catastrophe, and that people can find joy in living again on the far side of unbearable loss.”
The stories of the heroes on the front line of the crisis—in their own words (The New York Times Magazine)
Why it’s okay to not be productive right now (Taylor Lorenz, The New York Times)
One Good Thing
I was so moved by the audio of this video that I had to find a transcript of this speech by Andrew Cuomo. Here’s an excerpt:
This is going to be a long day and it's going to be a hard day, and it's going to be an ugly day, and it's going to be a sad day.
This is going to be one of those moment they're going to write and they're going to talk about for generations. This is a moment that is going to change this nation. This is a moment that forges character, forges people, changes people -- make them stronger, make them weaker -- but this is a moment that will change character.
And 10 years from now you'll be talking about today to your children or your grandchildren and you will shed a tear because you will remember the lives lost, and you'll remember the faces and you'll remember the names, and you'll remember how hard we worked and that we still lost loved ones.
And you'll shed a tear and you should because it will be sad. But you will also be proud. You'll be proud of what you did. You'll be proud that you showed up -- you showed up -- when other people played it safe you had the courage to show up and you had the skill and the professionalism to make a difference and save lives.
Until next time,
Taylor