Pandemic! Even the word is scary… What have we just witnessed? Is this something new to the world?
Well, it is to some of us. If there is anything good that will come out of this nightmare, it’s for the young — that the world is not perfect. We faced, and will probably face again, a similar problem like Covid-19.
In the 1900s we went through the Spanish flu, World War I, the Great Depression, World War II, the polio epidemic, the Korean War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Kennedy’s assassination, the Vietnam War, the attack on the World Trade Centers, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, several major recessions, and maybe a few catastrophes I have missed.
As I listened to my parents and grandparents talk about how bad the Great Depression was; when I watched my grandmother cry when she thought one of my uncles was killed in WWII; when we were self-quarantined during the polio scares in the early ’50s … they left a fear that you never forget.
Now our young citizens have the pandemic of 2020 to tell there children about.
I look back at all of the so-called fears this country and the world has had to face, and I wonder if our test on this earth is to see how we as the human face these problems. Will there be more? I have no doubt that future generations will have their share.
I heard a young person say they had to give up the family Thanksgiving gathering and it looked like the Christmas get-together was also in doubt. Amall sacrifice if you study your history and see what past generations gave up and lost.
This too shall pass, and if you think this pandemic is the last of major problems that will ever face the human race, you may be in for a big shock…
As you go through this holiday season, look at what you and you family and friends have to be thankful for, and say a prayer for those families who have to deal with the virus as a victim or for those on the front lines fighting this thing.
And try to remember that just giving up a family holiday gathering is minor compared to losing a family member.
Tony Lamke of Wilmington writes a periodic column for the News Journal. He can be reached at [email protected].
