COVID 1960

I saw an article entitled something like “What If This Had Happened in 2005.” All the news these days is about COVID-19, and I decided two weeks ago that I will limit my exposure to the news during this crisis. I turned on the TV news a couple times over the last few days, but the news media producers and writers are having to “scratch the bottom of the barrel” to maintain their Nielsen ratings. It seemed to me that some of the people they are interviewing really don’t know much about what is going on except what they are also reading on the web, so I have decided to just stick with picking and choosing what I want to digest from my internet news feeds.

That article made me start thinking—OK, I admit that I was in the shower where I generate a lot of thoughts and receive some of my inspiration for cogitating later on. I wasn’t thinking about 2005, but about what if this had happened sixty years ago. 

In 1960 my maternal grandmother did not have running water in the house, much less a telephone. She had electricity thanks to government programs subsidizing rural electric cooperatives. She had an electric “ice box”, but she had no TV. One light bulb hung from the ceiling of each of the four rooms in her primitive farmhouse. 

A Coronavirus probably would not have reached my grandmother’s homestead. But we lived in the big city—population around 20,000! We had all the modern conveniences, and we even had a television. My parents received the local newspaper and still listened to the radio for local news and gossip. I didn’t know anyone who had traveled to another country except some uncles who had served in the military. Our world was small and our lives provincial. 

If there had been a Coronavirus during 1960, and a stay-at-home order had been issued, we would not have had deliveries to our home from internet orders, but we might have had deliveries from the grocery store. Lysol and Clorox were around but not in the handy-wipe versions. Vinyl gloves were not available to the public, nor were face masks. No fast food restaurants, much less drive-throughs for food or pharmacies or banking. There was no technology that would have allowed us to contact my grandmother who lived 30 miles away. 

Are we blessed during this Coronavirus? Yes, indeed. First of all we are blessed to have good health. We are blessed to be so prepared for such a crisis. How blessed we are to have technology that allows Cheryl and me to see our families on our devices. How blessed we were to celebrate Easter today with our church family via FaceBook live. Thank you, Lord, for the grace and joy we have in You that sustains us during crises in our lives. 

It’s Easter! Rejoice and give thanks for all our blessings!