This week’s fire at the Historical Society’s Sturdy Hall brought townspeople together in a cooperative effort to save treasures from Harvard’s past. Many worked all day Tuesday and into the evening, shoulder to shoulder, to move the collections to safer quarters. For an afternoon people forgot their differences of opinion about the superintendent’s contract, ambulance billing, and Devens disposition; they forgot about the structural deficit and suspicious-looking people walking along the road and talking on cell phones. They worked together toward a common purpose, something everyone recognized as being larger than themselves. Thanks to their efforts, and the outstanding work of the Harvard Fire Department and fire departments in surrounding towns, a major disaster was averted. Something cherished was saved.

Disasters come in many forms. Think how much that we cherish could be saved if people worked together more often. Isn’t that what made Harvard Harvard?