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Sitting here at the airport, though, there is something quite heartening about all this in an odd way. As I look at these strangers with their masks on, they are somehow not so strange because of this weird experience we are all sharing together, and I’m struck by our capacity for resilience.

In Milan, London or New York, we are rarely tested like this. I’ve covered stories in parts of the world where life is much harder for most of the time: earthquakes in Indonesia, the war in Syria, migrants in camps with nothing. What binds all those stories is the human ability to adapt and to survive and to look out for one another. In our own way, we are doing that now. Italy’s heartbreak may take longer to heal, but like communities all over the world, things will go back to normal eventually. The dad with his kids has finally got them to calm down. The man on the phone has stopped screaming. The girl is still taking selfies.=

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