The conscious threats that we consider on a day to day basis are often very localized. We think about getting our children safely across the street to the school bus; we think about reminding our teenager to be extra cautious during his or her first months of driving a car; we remind our elderly loved ones to get their flu shot.
Little can we imagine an experience that has not affected our generation like those who lived through the pandemic of the 1918-19 era. In my first pastorate, I had elderly church members who would speak softly of the losses of their young adult children and teenagers during that time so long ago. Sometimes after a funeral, I would walk past older tombstones with those dates and those years and think…what happened?
It was the flu – a powerfully fast and acute variety that took thousands of lives worldwide. And what we recognize in the cycle of disease patterns across the planet is the potential for a reoccurrence of such an event. In the midst of our own days, we have seen the occurrence of a particular strain of bird flu that has now affected three continents, infected nearly 200 persons and had a death rate of nearly 60%. The only factor that keeps these statistics in check is the fact that bird to human transmission was the only link thus far…but recognizing that the mutation of such a lethal virus often does and may begin to be transmitted from human to human…the dangers are significant.
Last week, our local hospital initiated a request for the ministry crisis team to prepare a plan for such a potential event. The scenarios that could become a part of such a time could take on the proportions of a biblical plague and worse. The healthiest among us and the young adults of our community could be the most lethally vulnerable.
Government task forces working with national and regional health agencies have
opted for token measures of preparedness, but the reality is, if the rate of death is as high as the present bird flu strain … there is no present means to support the treatment or care of large populations of our community and nation. Our local hospital has 68 beds. Where do you put 1000 people in need of ventilators for respiratory support? Presently there are only about 100,000 available nation-wide. Those provisions simply are not accessible in any significant numbers. Quarantine…suspension of school and public meetings, attempting to limit exposures as much as possible would have people taking extreme measures in attempts to protect their families or to meet the immediate physical needs of the day. Meeting basic needs for water and food without exposure to the flu could be almost impossible.
After hurricane Katrina, who could imagine a replay of the chaos multiplied hundred fold or more across the nation and the world? On the other hand…life would go on…day by day…some living, many dying. Mass graves and cremations would likely be occurring on an hourly basis. Ethical decision-making would be linked not to caring for the weakest and most vulnerable, but attempting to save the strongest and those with the potential of living the longest. Seeking the greater good would become the aim of thinking persons in such a time. And for all…the nightmare of surviving such a time might seem to be as difficult as not.
Do you plan for such a thing? Local leaders seeking to create jobs could certainly consider ventilator production as a needed new industry. Thinking of protective strategies for healthy population groups could be essential. Making a way for the treatment of the sick or the care of the healthy would be issues of mind and heart … each person would choose their role in the midst of such a time. Would you be a caregiver? Would you offer your place in line for preventive therapy to another more vulnerable than yourself?
Perhaps we would do well to ask ourselves an even more significant question. Are we prepared to spend our days living them in light of God’s promises for a future with Him, or do we adopt the survivalist mindset that only embraces the momentary and visible as the last gasp to hope for? Personally, I think life is meant to be lived each day in the conscious awareness that it is a gift in the first place --- this hour, this moment, this time…and to God, we can entrust the future…when we place our hope in Him. Some will panic when threatening times seem on the horizon, but some will be prepared. Jesus said, “Those with ears to hear, let them hear.”
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