While the usual commemorations of Patriots’ Day have not taken place this year due to the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, we still look for ways to remember with reverence the exploits of the brave men and women who made the American Revolution the success it eventually became.

Locally, we especially honor those who fought the battles of Lexington and Concord, and of Menotomy. And, of course, the lauded “Midnight Ride of Paul Revere” is a fundamental part of the great American saga.

Revere’s fateful ride through Somerville, Medford, and Arlington, warning of the approach of British forces, thrills us and fills us with pride, knowing that we often tread the same paths that he did as we go about our own present-day lives.

It’s interesting to imagine what the great man might wish to warn us about today, were he to suddenly appear amongst us, tearing through the streets, proclaiming that which he felt we needed to know.

Would he be shocked by the political divisions that have been tearing at the very fabric of our Republic in recent years? Would he implore us to wear our face masks or to make sure we get ourselves vaccinated? Or would he advise us to do just the opposite? Who’s to say?

The brilliant cartoonist Walt Kelly coined the phrase “We have met the enemy and he is us” in his Pogo comic strip. It is doubtful that Mr. Revere would be shouting about the approach of the Redcoats in this day and age. But is it possible that he’d be warning us about ourselves?

Again, who’s to say?