Gov. Cuomo Delivers Stirring Message to Those Fighting Coronavirus: ‘This is a Moment That Will Change Character’

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo gave a heartfelt and powerful message to the U.S. National Guard stationed in his home state during a coronavirus press conference on Friday morning.

“I want to make two points to you, and I want to make two promises to you. This is a different beast that we’re dealing with. This is an invisible beast. It is an insidious beast. This is not going to be a short deployment. This is not going to be that you go out there for a few days, we work hard and we go home,” he told soldiers in the National Guard.

“This is going to be weeks and weeks and weeks. This is going to be a long day, and it’s going to be a hard day, and it’s going to be an ugly day, and it’s going to be a sad day. This is a rescue mission that you’re on. The mission is to save lives.”

“And what’s even more cruel, is this enemy doesn’t attack the strongest of us. It attacks the weakest of us. It attacks our most vulnerable, which makes it even worse in many ways, because these are the people that every instinct tells us we’re supposed to protect.” Cuomo continued. “These are our parents and our grandparents. These are our aunts, our uncles. These are our relatives who are sick. And every instinct says ‘protect them, help them, because they need us.’ And those are the exact people that this enemy attacks.”

“We’re going to do this, and we’re going to do this together…You are living a moment in history. This is going to be one of those moments they are going to write about and they are going to talk about for generations. This, this is a moment that is going to change this nation. This is a moment that forges character, forges people, changes people, makes them stronger, makes them weaker, but this is a moment that will change character,” the governor said. “And ten years from now, you’ll be talking about today, your children or your grandchildren, and you will shed a tear because you will remember the lives lost. And you remember the faces and you will remember the names, and you will remember how hard we worked, and that we still lost loved ones.”

“I know that I am proud of you, and every time the National Guard has been called out, they have made every New Yorker proud. And I am proud to be with you yet again. And I’m proud to fight this fight with you. And I bring you thanks from all New Yorkers who are just so appreciative of the sacrifice that you are making, the skill that you’re bringing, the talent that you are bringing, and you give many New Yorkers confidence,” Cuomo continued.

“So I say, my friends, that we go out there today and we kick coronavirus’s ass. That’s what I say. And were going to save lives, and New York is going to thank you. Bless each and every one of you.”

Watch above, via C-SPAN.

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