For many years I have been offering unsolicited thanks to firefighters and police officers when I see them out and about. It’s the least I can do to let those who take an oath to “protect and serve” the rest of us.

I don’t go to hospitals much these days, which quite obviously is a good thing. Thus, it is hard for me to thank doctors, nurses, various medical technicians and others who toil in our hospitals.

These are dangerous times. Our nation is battling a coronavirus pandemic. The United States is now the world’s leading country afflicted by the virus; we have surpassed China, where the pandemic began, and Italy, which is suffering grievously as a result the illness that has felled so many Italians.

I want to use this forum to offer a brief, but supremely heartfelt, thank you to those who are struggling to tend to those stricken by the virus. It might sound cliché, but these individuals have been thrust into harm’s way in a manner that is every bit as dangerous as the men and women who fight for us on battlefields around the world.

Bullets aren’t flying in our hospitals, emergency room clinics, nursing homes or convalescent centers. The enemy there is that damn virus. It’s invisible, to be sure, but it is dangerous in the extreme.

If I encounter medical personnel at the grocery store, my intention will mirror my actions when I see firefighters and cops. Until then, I will rely on this forum to offer only this: Thank you.