Patience. Thrift. Acceptance. We have a lot to learn from previous generations about crisis.

For decades, I have heard that the baby boomer generation lacked the qualities of the generations before us, the members of which had suffered through world wars, and the great depression. Boomers have cast similar aspersions on Gen X and Millennials, claiming they do not work as hard and perhaps were ruined by getting too many participation trophies as children.

It is true, very little has happened on a national scale that challenged the mettle of my generation. Certainly, that does not mean there are not many whose lives were less than ideal, who faced poverty, illness and loss or families that lost children, husbands, wives, mothers and fathers to military service. On the whole, however, we have enjoyed in this country sufficiency, and for many, abundance.

There are many who doubt whether the COVID-19 crisis is “real.” Whether it will be of a long lasting nature or not is still to be determined. Many thought the world wars and the depression would be short lived. Hopefully, this crisis will run its course in a relatively short period of time.

Let’s however examine for a moment the characteristics of these generations who came before us. First, they were patriots. They believed their country to be strong and good and worth fighting for, worth the greatest sacrifice. We have lost some of that faith. We have elected our leaders, and now we must trust that they will do their best to guide our country through this crisis. We must demand they put aside partisanship, and opportunities for criticism, and get down to the serious business of problem solving. If they do not, there will be other elections.

These previous generations were thrifty. We were not; we have been consumers, enjoying cheap goods and lots of them. Our response to crisis is to buy more goods, more toilet paper, to flock to Costco, Target and Walmart. Perhaps we should consider supporting our friends and neighbors that have small businesses. We watch charming movies from the days where the grocer, the butcher, the hardware store owner knew their customers by name. Those days are not coming back, but do consider your take out from a neighbor’s restaurant, or small business.

Many in those previous generations planted gardens. If you have never done it, you should. There is a lot of pleasure in seeing things grow, and it cultivates lots of virtues, like patience, hard work, and self- sufficiency. So, maybe not a garden, but a few tomatoes? This is spring, a promise of rebirth, take advantage of that.

Finally, while this one is hard, acceptance and patience are not virtues of my generation, but ones we need to learn here. We have an opportunity. Hand wringing over the zombie apocalypse does not get it done. Do your best to appreciate what you have, accept that the world is full of indispensable people but you might have to stay home if you have a cough. We don’t know how long this will last nor how malignant it will become. We do know, however, that adopting the virtues of those that came before us and who themselves mastered crisis cannot be an all bad thing.

Lindy Karns is a CPA and a community volunteer in Lexington.