Here is the thought for the day: Relax.

We have been on hold for the last two months. Why don’t we slow down for a minute? Take a deep breath. Inhale. Exhale. Relax.

Feel better? Sure, you do.

Now put your thinking cap on. We are in the middle of a pandemic – a situation like none of us has experienced. Let’s think of what we know.

National authorities tell us more than 65,000 Americans have died of a virus called COVID-19. I don’t have to remind you that more Americans died in those two months than were killed in the nine-year-long Vietnam war.

Here in Maine, COVID-19 has killed more than 50 residents. Many of them, like me, are old.

So far, 14 residents of Lincoln County have been diagnosed with the virus. So far, thank the Lord, we have had no deaths. Knock on wood.

Unlike other ailments that have ravaged humanity, like the black plague, smallpox, cholera, influenza, polio, measles, malaria and typhus, health experts tell us we have no defense against this disease.

There is no vaccine, no magic pill that will protect us from or cure us of COVID-19.

Health care experts, who are scrambling to discover a cure, tell us the only thing we can do is hide out from the invisible enemy that prowls our nation. Thus, officials closed schools, shuttered commerce, and ordered us all to stay home.

Because we cannot see Mr. COVID-19, it is easy to think that he has not visited our peninsula. In this war, we can not visualize the enemy, and there is no one evil genius, to use the image from the comic books, to hate and fear.

Maybe so, but do you want to take the chance of ignoring stay at home orders when the result might lead to the infection of your wife, husband, children, grandchildren, grandparents? For Pete’s sake, no one wants to harm their relatives and kill friends.

But, and it is a big but, the economics are awful. National unemployment figures have gone from about 2%  to somewhere near 20-plus %.

Our national leaders spent the last several months fumbling around, blaming others, and touting snake oil cures. Now they have decided that it is no longer their problem. It is up to the states.

In the Great State of Maine, the snow is gone, the flowers are budding, the ticks and black flies are starting to stir. Spring is here.

Maine, including Boothbay, Damariscotta and Wiscasset, touts itself as Vacationland. Our economic base depends upon folks from away coming here to spend the summer or just visit our shores.

We have fine restaurants offering visitors the bounty of the sea brought fresh to their tables by intrepid fishermen. We have places from grand to just right. We offer visitors boat trips, lighthouses and a chance to stroll through the woods and absorb the fresh wonders of Mother Nature.

But we are under quarantine. The brain trust in Augusta says visitors must self-quarantine for 14 days. That puts vacationers, from day-trippers to two-week visitors – and our merchants – in a serious pickle.

For example, if Red’s Eats customers observed social distancing, how long do you think the line would be? Across the bridge?

You can see why many of us are a bit nervous about the summer.

Some of us are flailing around looking for someone to blame for the situation that none of us caused.

Others, egged on by those trying to score some cheap political points, (after all, we are in the middle of the presidential election season,) gathered in Augusta and marched around the Blaine House yelling insults and claiming their Constitutional rights were being violated.

Others defied the governor’s lockdown orders and opened their restaurants, and invited customers to come in and sit down. I am told they were joined by others, including some from Boothbay.

Surprise, state officials then walked in and removed the restaurant’s liquor licenses and business certificates, setting the stage for a confrontation that would delight a former governor who would love to move back into the Blaine House.

So, what to do? Is this the time to yell at political rivals? Is it time to protest in Halloween costumes?

Or should we do what we always do? Pitch in. Help others. Our schools are closed, but still, teach and feed students. Food banks are open, and community groups are in business. Grocery workers are on the job.

Of course, state officials would love to restart commerce but fear their actions might backfire with fatal consequences. What should we do?

In the end, aren’t we all are just trying to make sense of this brave new world?

Be safe. Be well.