Yet a piece of me, of my human nature, still imagines our President will change—that on that stage he will rise to the occasion and show us with constancy that he gets the gravity of this moment, shedding the daily conceits and deceits—and lead.

But he has not. And over the course of his presidency he has proven he will not.

So stop imagining leadership where it is not. And, instead, recognize where it is—all around us.

As Mr. Rogers taught us: look for the helpers, the helpers are the leaders.

Helpers like the lighthouse, Dr. Tony Fauci; or commander, Capt. Brett Crozier of the USS Theodore Roosevelt; or shop steward Enoch Benjamin, a meat processing worker on the front line who lost his life to Covid-19, on April 3.

Helpers like Heidi and others sewing in my district, making face masks and giving them away.

Partner-helpers like John and Aaron of Five Saints Distillery and Aaron’s Crazy Putty in Norristown, Pennsylvania, who recognized their world and businesses had changed, but that their spirit had not. Together, they had the ingredients and the will to make hand sanitizer in large quantities. When I visited them both they were loading up the vehicle of a first responder, and another to a treatment center.

Or the extraordinary helpers who are our healthcare workers, every one.

Like a new friend I have made while working from home—Dr. Chris Notte, a physician at my local hospital, Abington Jefferson Health, who is one of the many on the frontlines of the COVID-19 response there. We connected over needed PPE, testing turnaround time, and the sad death of a gentleman from Abington, the first Covid-19 death in our county.

In this time of distancing, I know Chris through texts, and his goodness shines through. One day as I was checking in on him and his team he wrote back: “At this point, encouragement is about the best thing we can offer each other, so we are working to keep our staff upbeat and motivated — reminding them that they are truly heroes in this fight! Have a good weekend, and let me know if there is anything I can do for YOU!”

Great adversity shows the mettle of our people and the leaders who rise to meet it. Chris wrote, this is “the worst and strangely the best time of my career…so many physicians have shared similar feelings—we feel like this has brought us together, fighting against a common enemy….”

Last Thursday night, I stood outside our hospital at the 7 p.m. shift change, alongside dozens of police officers, firefighters, first responders—standing and applauding healthcare workers as they came and went. Heartbreaking and heartening.

Something surprised me: the ones going home looked as energized as the ones coming in—determined. Doctors, nurses, support staff, administrative staff. So many days in, exhausted, yet positive in spirit and energy.

As the sun like a curtain came down, I went over to a small group of doctors and nurses at the entrance draped in fire trucks’ ladders and equipment, and asked if Dr. Chris might be among them. (I don’t know what he looks like.) He wasn’t.

No worries — l will catch up with him by text to thank him () soon.

One other thing struck me in the applause for the healthcare professionals: they simply smiled or waved as they walked past, some took videos back at us.

Not one took a bow.

This historic crisis proves Shakespeare and Mr. Rogers right: there are no small parts, only small actors. And remember to look for the helpers.

They are easy to spot — they are the ones not taking a bow.

Madeleine Dean is the U.S. Representative for Pennsylvania’s 4th congressional district.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own.