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I just finished my morning read of the daily newspaper. I’m not having a lot of success at forgetting an article that is still weighing heavily on my mind. It was about some people in Mexico being upset with healthcare workers to the point of physically attacking them. The article highlighted a nurse, on her way home from working a shift a hospital. Some deranged individual threw a concoction of bleach and something else at her, in an insane protest that she was spreading the coronavirus.

I have tried, with what I consider little accuracy, to understand human behavior, especially when community is faced with a threat. Of course, the coronavirus is a threat of global, even Biblical proportions. I can appreciate fear, but fear expressed in a violent manner against those who are on the frontlines, putting their lives at risk to protect the life and limbs of others is more than mind boggling. The article I read, which reported the incident of the nurse, detailed other cases in Mexico where this is happening.

This article caused me to think of other instances of irrational behavior that exemplifies our inability to act in one accord whenever threats occur. When I read the newspaper, watch news reports, it’s obvious to me that there isn’t a cohesive world approach to fighting this viral, invisible onslaught against humanity. Politicians, you know those government folks who are in those stately chambers, put in place to serve, seem to be just too nationalistic in everything they do regarding the coronavirus. What would it take for the world to come together when a threat emerges, aliens from out of space? Hollywood has given us many a saga where such threats have resulted in a consolidation of efforts, across national boundaries to fight against threats to humankind. Logic becomes the best approach. You know, the coronavirus is a case of life imitating art from a negative perspective. Maybe we could imitate art positively: Come together globally, despite our differences, and throw everything we have at this deadly enemy that’s killing us. Something tells me that our scientists would flourish in their research if this were to happen.

Instead of focusing on the apparent enemy, the coronavirus, we have fingers being pointed: Who’s responsible for developing this thing? Was it a laboratory experiment gone awry? Can we indict some one in the eye of world public opinion? Meanwhile, I see little effort being directed toward the possibility that the coronavirus is symptomatic of all the wrong stuff we’ve been doing to the environment. Maybe nature is fighting back, or simply reacting as would a secluded room of vipers, if one carelessly ventured into their space.

Although I’m not that sure about most of what I’ve penned here. One thing I’m confident in is my stance on: We should not be hostile toward those on the frontlines, who are risking their lives to care for us.

I’m old and blessed…hope you will be too.