Everyone has the ability to make a difference. This year, we have all learned that the hard way.

Three or four months ago, many people had this idea that someone who worked the checkout line at a grocery store, or someone who worked for the sanitation department collecting garbage, or someone who delivered food for people who wanted to enjoy a restaurant meal at home, or someone who worked at a similar job, was more or less tangential to the world that everyone else lived in. These workers seemed, to a lot of people, to matter less than people with fancier-sounding jobs and higher incomes.