The Honeybee

COVID-19 is the name of the nemesis. A virus has become the archenemy of the human race. This must be how bugs feel when a pest controller sprays their nests. I don’t know how many times I have sprinkled granules of some kind of poison on an anthill. Don’t you know that as that poison begins to do the trick, there must be panic within the mound? I don’t think ants are as savvy as humans, but I am sure each generation is getting a little closer to catching on to the warning signs of an angry homeowner. Typically, we have to change the method of control once the pests “learn” how to get around our poisons.

We’ve been fighting viruses for centuries. We have probably done our part by chasing them with all kinds of solutions, vaccines, antibiotics and other remedies. If you were a virus, wouldn’t you try to find the right kind of DNA to give your offspring in order for them to survive the stuff humans try to use for control? It’s a match that someone has to eventually lose.

Of course it is very premature to talk about what may come after COVID-19, but if we manage to find some sort of immunity with this virus, the next one may give us more trouble. Of course it could be decades away.

The reality we have yet to accept is that, as humans, we may not always be able to think our way out of something. This is the case with hurricanes and earthquakes. When we heed all of the warnings, we tend to survive many of these enemies, but when a human is blindsided by a storm, it may not be decided by who has the bigger brain.

During this uniquely stressful pandemic, I’ve watched the reactions of all kinds of people and most of our best guesses are not really winning the fight as quickly as we’d like. One with lots of money is accustomed to treating things with money and money does not really seem to solve the underlying concerns if you ask me. Someone with mechanical skills will often begin talking about machines that may help people breathe if they find their own ability to get enough oxygen is just not enough. Someone who cooks will talk about ways to keep people fed. Someone who sells toilet paper seems to fare pretty well for some reason. Scientists are looking for ways to accelerate tests that will get some kind of potential treatment out to humans sooner rather than later. And the tests are happening at an alarming rate, all over the world. Governments are trying to find ways to “flatten the curve”, which is another way of saying, “We may have just as many cases, but over a longer period of time so the hospitals can treat everyone instead of the just the most critical ones.”

Preachers are preaching as usual. Huge companies are laying off employees as a way to mitigate the effect of the virus on the bottom line. Doctors and nurses are doing everything they can do to keep people alive and safe. Teachers are having classes online. Some essential workers are literally risking their lives to keep food production going and shipping. Nursing homes are taking emergency measures to the extreme and people are not being allowed to visit loved ones for now.

We are all doing things differently in order to slow or stop this virus. The thing about COVID-19 is, it really did not seem to come prepared to kill all of its potential hosts. As with most bugs, this virus seems to want to live concurrently with humans. To coronaviruses, a perfect world is one where humans and viruses can live together. It can only be a serious player if it can survive. And this is the most likely scenario. COVID-19 will probably eventually find its way into so much of the herd that it will begin to have less effect. The fact that it is so easily spread seems to suggest that it is trying to pair up with as many hosts as possible in a short period. The effect this virus has on the elderly is extremely dangerous for this portion of our herd. And this is where we refuse to act like buffalo and leave our old ones behind. Thankfully, humans are far more empathetic than most other animals. We don’t leave anyone behind.

But if this virus finds its way into our communities and we’ve kept our elderly away, what is their defense when we begin to mingle again? If the virus learns to coexist with healthier, younger humans, then how will those healthier, younger humans not become lethal to the aged and unhealthy?

Herd immunity will eventually work, except many people will likely die as the fight has to be taken up by stronger, healthier humans. This pandemic is like a pack of wolves chasing our entire herd as I type this note. Way out front, you have those younger, healthier, faster humans running up and into the hills without giving out of breath. Behind them, you have some who are running, but are dealing with the dust from the younger ones and the fear of the wolves they see and hear behind them. Right behind that, behind people my age, you have those people who are over 60 and maybe not quite as swift. Right behind them, you have an enormous group of people who cannot outrun the virus. They are out of breath and many are too unhealthy to keep running. Some are giving up and some are being killed.

Amazingly, the altruism of the human race shows up in the nick of time. Some of the ones who could have outran this enemy have turned around to face it head on. You are seeing them in a staring contest with the virus.  We all have elderly or unhealthy loved ones. We are all determined that the virus can’t take them without a fight and everyone is preparing to fight now. How will this fight ultimately turn out for the herd and its nemesis, COVID-19?

As a senior in this very herd, with a mother who is 85, a father-in-law who is 85 and a mother-in-law who is 80, I’ve begun to stand between the virus and the elderly in my group. As a responsible fighter, I’ve agreed that I can probably risk a little more than my aged loved ones so I place myself a little closer to the frontline where food and necessities can still be had. I bring them to my loved ones and try to avoid any close contact. But I am deeply concerned that I can only delay this disease and not completely prevent it. The flattened models I have seen do not really show us saving the most vulnerable, it seems to show us delaying their infection and their fight. If the front lines do not find a way to kill this virus, it seems to me that the virus will kill some of our elderly population in a wave; now or later.

It may be that the new ventilators will save many of our stronger ones. If they survive it, the virus may be around for decades and it may kill millions as does the flu and cancer. It may be around for the rest of this human period. I may survive this and become somewhat immune to COVID-19 and die of something else later on. It may be that the only possible solution is to build our individual immune systems to fight this thing individually, but what about my mom, father-in-law and mother-in-law?

I think the only hope for them at all is a serum. Whatever the human immune system develops as a cure for this disease, will have to be administered to the elderly. This is the race now. This is the fight now.

Time won’t take care of this. Having the virus running freely within our community will only provide better health for those who are already relatively healthy and fairly young too. But for anyone with any kind of illness or already fighting the disease of age, this virus seems to be the one they cannot beat.

It’s our time to show creation what we are made of. Honey bees are a good example of what our best may well demonstrate during this crisis. We’ve taken note of this coronavirus and we feel threatened. We recognize the enemy’s desire to do harm to our hive, our tribe, our herd. When a honeybee has decided that its hive is being threatened, it finds the enemy and stings if possible. The honeybee does not take this lightly as it knows that it will die after it has stung the assailant. It will take this mindset to defeat this enemy. We will have to fight with a honeybee mindset. You are seeing this today. I am proud of the human race for saying, “No, you cannot take our old people and our unhealthy people without a fight.”

The entire herd seems to have stalled out and turned around to face this thing. It has been a beautiful moment to witness. At first, the youngest ones could not be slowed down. They are too filled with excitement and life. But they saw the middle group stopping and they eventually stopped to look back. We’ve witnessed the tragedy out back, where the oldest ones are being taken down by this enemy, but almost at once, others in the herd began to stand between the virus and the herd. Now it is a standoff. Right now, nobody knows what happens next.

Some people are calling for the herd to carry on. But there is too much love among humans for that. Most people know that if we carry on and do nothing, we will be thinned out and the ones we love will have died for us instead of having it the other way around. It’s a beautiful fact that most humans, when given the choice of dying for someone verses having someone die for us, we choose to die. It is not an easy choice. Life has always been our most valuable possession. I believe many people will be risking their lives in order to fight this disease on the front lines. Some will lose that fight. But I also believe the one thing this virus cannot withstand is a love so great.

This is not the first time this has happened. It happens in every generation. My uncle was on a tractor, in 1939, plowing a field. He had been hearing about the war and how the enemy wanted to take away American freedom. He stepped off of that tractor, walked by his mother and father, on his way to gather a few things and he was off to the train station where he joined 16 million others and became a soldier. His life was not at risk in that garden. But there was no way he was going to allow an enemy to have its way with America.

This is what we do. This is how we are naturally wired. Millions of people are literally risking their lives to save others right now. This is happening all over the world. If the enemy wants a fight, mankind will give it to him. The thing that no enemy is ever really prepared for is The Divine Wind. Today, we are seeing the evidence of this Divine Wind. When you see people risking their lives to save others, there is a Wind behind them and it is Divine. It’s the soldier, the nurse, the doctor, the honeybee and the caregiver.

To answer your question, Jack Johnson, “Where’d all the good people go?” take a look around.

God and the Coronavirus

If I were challenged to explain God’s position on this coronavirus and its effect on our world today, as anyone else, I would likely grapple and wrestle with my thoughts and how to communicate them. But if there was ever a time for anyone to self-examine one’s spiritual convictions, it would be now.

To begin, I would offer a disclaimer to admit that I am a doubter and on my best days, I am not a fundamental believer. In other words, if someone wanted to read about some of the most traditional religious dogmas, I would never be a good source. In my case, I have never been one to promote or encourage the validity of someone else’s views. I have always been on a very personal journey regarding my faith and I never take anyone’s word for what I cannot test for myself. Needless to say, I would not want to depend on a prayer-cloth, purchased from a televangelist, to get us through this pandemic.

I believe the ultimate answer is available for everyone and not just for the few who can muster up the faith to believe it to be so. Love, in a word, is what we can rely on. Whether we’ve accepted a specific religious path or not, the case for Love has been proven over and over. Life is just one thing and we are all expressions of it. The only way through any trial we face as a people, is to respond as a people. We are truly all in this together. If Love is the one thing we know we can rely on, we should trust it to get us through this.

I believe in people in general. I think we will naturally be more inclined to love our neighbors when we learn that more and more of our neighbors may actually need something.

On Tuesday, in Atlanta, Quazavier Dupre was on his way home from work and he saw a house on fire. His work crew was with him and he said their first reaction was to stop and help. Inside the house, they found a man, a woman and a baby. Darrell McClendon said he had to save the family. He has children of his own and was thinking about them. The woman in the house was naked and the men clothed her. The men who stopped to help “neighbors” on the way home from work, saved the family.

Dupree told reporters he was just doing God’s will. Cornell White said he didn’t feel like a hero, but a blessing and he said, “Thank God for that.”

Hearts like that will get us through this. If we see someone in need, we will have an opportunity to help. It’s not that we won’t see smoke, flames and families facing such challenges, but we will see the best in people and we will see people running into dangerous situations to help. Where is God in this pandemic? We can see Him. He’ll look like Quazavier Dupre and his friends.