Should We Be Afraid? Maybe

The Coronavirus which has killed over one thousand people in China and sickened thousands is a zoonotic disease. That means it jumped from animals to humans. Experts believe that it originated in bats, jumped to pangolins (a scaly mammal) and then to humans in a poorly regulated, wet marketplace, in Wuhan, China. In that marketplace, where there were dead and live animals, it was a place where viruses can spread.
The good news is that hopefully there will be a vaccine in the coming months and the strict measures the Chinese government has taken to stop the spread of the virus will work and the pandemic will stop.
But what frightens me is what if another zoonotic disease jumped from animals to humans and was deadly....for everyone....that's a very scary scenario, like a horror movie plot.
That could be the end.
Of course as Christians we have to live in hope. Hope should cast out fear.
But humankind is careless. We've been careless with creation. There is a lot of pride and greed in this world.
We need to respect the natural world and have greater understanding of the conditions that cause zoonotic diseases to thrive.
The unthinkable could happen. It's not that far fetched. I hope and pray it doesn't.
I try to be hopeful. I try to surrender my fears to God. But maybe even God can't save us from ourselves or our carelessness or greed.
NJA

UPDATE: Apparently experts now believe that the coronavirus originated in bats but then jumped not to snakes, as originally reported but to pangolins, a scaly mammal and then to humans. Pangolins are considered the world's most trafficked animals....sadly they are being hunted to extinction. Their keratin scales are used in traditional Chinese medicine.

"Deaths of Despair" the Working Class in America and the Church

After reading the disturbing article in the New York Times titled, "Who Killed the Knapp Family" by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn which highlighted the decline in the working class in America due to job loss, failed policies and drug and alcohol addiction, I wondered if the Church/churches in America could do more.
According to a Nobel Prize winning economist and his wife who coined the phrase, "deaths of despair,"  to describe the surge of deaths from alcohol, drugs and suicide in the working class, they said, "The meaningfulness of the working class life seems to have evaporated," according to Angus Deaton and Anne Case.
Low paying jobs, despair, an apparent lack of constructive social services and feeling left out of prosperity and upward mobility has caused immense problems.
What does the Church have to do with this tragic scenario? I think its an opportunity for the Church to become involved in helping people to find meaning and meaningfulness not only through prayer, Mass and praise and worship but also putting together opportunities along with civic organizations, and government support, to provide job training and learning courses to alleviate despair.
The Church needs to be relevant to people's lives. It needs to look for opportunities to be of service and help those in need. It needs to restore credibility
and one way to do that is do have sensible, realistic programs that provide needed services that can improve people's lives and help the children who are being so damaged by this situation.
If people are in despair and are turning to drugs and alcohol, that is an opportunity to tell people, we can help. We know ways to fill your despair with hope, with courage, with resources that can help.
That's what Jesus would do. He would find ways to heal and give people hope.
NJA