A new word has entered the lexicon the last few months — coronavirus. This new strain of flu has taken over the airwaves like a plague (pun intended). In technical circles it has been around for awhile, but for the average American it descended on us suddenly, and now even young schoolchildren can rattle it off without mispronouncing the dreaded disease.
What has this caused? One of the most egregious is the “run” on toilet paper. Wal-Mart and other stores have empty shelves where the staples of life are absent. Other paper products are in short supply. Hand sanitizers are almost extinct in Paris, Illinois!
There are declarations by governors to limit our activities, even one from Virginia’s governor prohibiting gatherings of more than 10 people. When asked, a minion in his office confirmed that church services were under this edict and those attending could legally be arrested for holding regular meetings. (With jail sentences and fines to follow, we would be walking the pathway of the early Soviet Union!)
I believe that fear has stoked this reaction to a marauding bug. I would posit that this fear takes about three lines.
First is the fear of not having enough of the needs of life. Food, medicine and other of that that we believe we have to have in order to survive such down turns in our existence. Fear of not having enough money to overcome our lack of stuff. We are so used to looking at our larder and financial resources that when we cannot jump in the car and go to the bank or Wal-Mart or Rural King or any of the other places we usually secure them, we experience the fear of deprivation. So we panic. This is not a completely irrational fear, for the conveniences of life and procuring them has become commonplace. This is why “convenience” stores proliferate in our community, many of them attached to another daily need — the gas station. And to keep our necessities, many Americans are stocking up on guns and ammo, s
?¿o those so inclined cannot misappropriate our possessions. Stories of hoarding are many during these “dark” days.
Secondly, we have a fear that our children (those who have left the home) will not have enough. They will have lost jobs or are suffering a lack of common needs and will not be able to overcome the obstacles placed in their path. As of today, three of our children are not able to “go to work” because of the coronavirus pandemic. This also impacts our grandchildren, for if the economy does not snap back to “normal”, what are they to do? We fear for their future, and many in this country do not have the extreme wealth to support two or three generations of family. Because of this, many in my and the next generation do fear the effects of this scourge on the nation, effects on those we love.
But the greatest fear, I believe, is that many fear the ultimate outcome of this disease, the fear of death. We think of dying as the ultimate tragedy, for this life is all we know and to be torn from the love of family and friends is almost unthinkable. And all of us have seen loved ones in the last moments of their lives and it hurts us immensely as we believe this separation is the final nail in the coffin of our earthly existence. We also believe that our death would be a tragedy visited on our family, friends and those we have known for years, to have them deprived of our presence.
Allied with this is our fear of the unknown. How many people do not have an assurance of life after death being something that can be better than life before death? We question if there is a Heaven or if there is a Hell and what do we deserve?
We read of the terrible existence of those who will reside in Hell (read Dante’s Inferno for a medieval take on the lake of fire) and we wonder. Where do we go to dissipate the sometimes irrational fear we have of this ravaging illness?
This is a call to faith, faith in God. Such a subject may be unpopular in some places today, but it is a real antidote to fear. When in hospital with a serious illness, I felt at peace, even when I knew that the Grim Reaper waited outside the door. But after recovering somewhat (still working on that) I have talked to those who prayed for my health and realized that nearly all believed in God, had faith in God to answer prayer. Perhaps I am living in a bubble not inhabited by the majority of our countrymen and women, but it was reassuring to know that to a person these good people believed that the health of the nation, both physically and economically, would return. Until then their faith will sustain them. Fear was conditional, for their faith was stronger than fear.
In times of struggle, pain and uncertainty, our faith can obliterate fear as we look back on the old adage, still true, that “God plus me equals a majority”. Believe, pray, be with those whose faith will hold us up, and know that any fear is but a fleeting thought that our prayers and our God can take care of. C. S. Lewis wrote “There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind”.