On March 16, 2020, New York City schools closed down and the DOE initiated remote learning. I’m sure all of you reading this can guess why. It was the COVID-19 pandemic that shut down our schools, began quarantines, and made many of us wear masks and vaccinate ourselves. While I believe all of these were necessary to be safe (and occasional quarantines and vaccines still are), they were extremely inconvenient and had negative effects on the community. Luckily, my community in Park Slope, Brooklyn, was and still is a strong one, and we had people fighting for us. These people were first responders. From the incredible heroics of firefighters to the less glamorous work of doctors who worked to stop the coronavirus (and of course many, many more people), first responders are always here for us and working hard.

To honor these amazing people, my community did something you would expect to see at a play or performance. Every day at 7:00 pm, even if we were in the middle of something (even eating dinner), people would go to their windows and clap. However, they did a lot more than just applaud. People would scream, yell, and cheer. Others would bring pots and pans and bang them together to create noise. It didn’t matter if there were any first responders there to witness it, they knew we were doing it for them, and the claps got really loud. This continued for a year or two until vaccines began to improve things.

The 7:00 claps demonstrate resilience in my community because it shows us sticking together and finding positivity in a difficult time. The first reason it shows resilience is through the community sticking together. By going to our windows and making noise for people, we engaged in a group activity. This demonstrates us sticking together because by engaging in a group activity we preserved our community, doing things with one another, and it kept us from feeling estranged from one another. Not to mention that it was the only time we could see neighbors without a mask in person. A community trying to stick together in a difficult time the way ours did shows resilience because it is a way to try to keep something good together and fight for something you want.

We also found positivity, which demonstrates resilience because looking at the good in something rather than the bad is one way to persevere through hard times. We looked at the positive side of things by thinking about all that the first responders were doing for us. Knowing that someone has your back is certainly something positive, and the first responders certainly had our back. From putting out fires, to stopping crime, to creating vaccines and treating patients, first responders saved so many lives. If that isn’t looking out for someone, I don’t know what is.