Maxwell: Continue to show your compassion as pandemic stretches on

COVID-19 has inverted the lives of Scottsdale’s residents. It has been an exasperating time for all of us.

However, there have been extraordinary examples of community and compassion demonstrated by our residents.

The Scottsdale Fire Fighters Charities served thousands of meals to our seniors who were homebound. I think of all of the remarkable efforts that the Scottsdale Unified School District did to bring some normality to their senior classes who had been denied the traditions and rituals of graduating high school.

And who can forget all of the people who showed up with brooms and trash cans to clean up the damage done at Fashion Square after rioters tried to destroy our city?

Scottsdale may be small, but we are a strong community! After all, this is the West’s Most Western Town.

Scottsdale is the home of the Charros and Parada del Sol Rodeo. Tough is our middle name. Strength, compassion, and cooperation are the traits that will allow us to emerge from this crisis.

With the possible exception of the 1918 Spanish Flu, what we are experiencing is unprecedented.

Our leaders are dealing with a challenging set of scenarios and very few options.

Difficult questions are ahead of us.

How do we get our economy moving in a climate of such uncertainly? How do we protect our citizens while still allowing them the freedoms we have always enjoyed?

Mistakes will be made. But as more data becomes available, I have confidence that our medical experts, our elected officials will do what is right and necessary for the recovery to begin.

I spend a good portion of my days thinking of the hardships of our residents and our business community and the innovative solutions that will be required to emerge into prosperity. Unprecedented challenges will require a new set of skills and problem solving to find the balanced answers we need.

As we continue to move forward, I urge Scottsdale residents to show the compassion you have always demonstrated. Check on your neighbors. Rather than texting, your family and friends call them. Hear them and let them hear from you.

This crisis may be dragging on much longer than anyone expected, but it will end. When it does, I cannot wait to welcome Scottsdale back to the city it is and has always been.

Editor’s Note: Kevin Maxwell is a candidate for Scottsdale City Council in the Aug. 4 primary election.