Patrick T. Conley | R.I. historian laureate; Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame president; Heritage Harbor Foundation president; attorney and author
Roger Williams and the founders of our state went to the New Testament to choose our motto and our symbol, “Hope.”
They cited St. Paul’s Epistle to the Hebrews wherein he states that with “the HOPE set before us, we have an ANCHOR of the soul, sure and firm.” The Ocean State has lived and survived for nearly four centuries to vindicate that motto.
Rhode Island has not only survived but thrived in the aftermath of social and civic convulsions far greater than the current pandemic. In the 1640s, our settlers repulsed an effort by four neighboring colonies to absorb and extinguish us.
During the American Revolution we endured the British occupation of Aquidneck Island and won a decisive victory over combined British and Hessian forces on Aug. 29, 1778.
In the early 1840s we experienced the Dorr Rebellion, America’s most important democratic uprising.
When the Civil War and World Wars I and II caused major disruption and social change, Rhode Islanders did not recuse themselves; they rose to the challenge.
Just over a hundred years ago, we overcame a similar but far greater scourge to our health than COVID-19, namely the influenza pandemic of 1918-19. Then, Rhode Island experienced 4,399 deaths from flu and pneumonia in a state population of 604,000.
Hope is the mother of persistence, perseverance and progress. Rhode Islanders have not only proclaimed that truth in their motto, they have proven it repeatedly.
Use these local examples of survival and resilience to inspire and motivate your staff.
John D. Rockefeller said it best: “There is no quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance. It overcomes everything, even nature.”
Only hope can generate such perseverance and resilience.
