This month, an entire family was wiped out by plague in the Latin Quarter. I cannot fathom the tragedy of it all, imagination what it must be like for that community. I am fearful myself, and it is far removed from Chinatown where today conditions are radically improved.
But it has also awoken us all: doctors and people from all corners of the city seem more united than ever before. I heard one of the doctors talking about how they felt like they now had reason to diagnose plague when they saw it, whereas before they were uncertain or afraid. There was openness, a sense that we were moving forward.
Out of tragedy can come great progress: in this case, the tragic loss of a family has brought the people of San Francisco into a family of their own, where race is not the barrier it once was.
