Thankful for helpers

As terrible as the COVID-19 pandemic is, it is worth noting the considerable progress in our 21st century response to the disease - especially in comparison to the 1928 flu pandemic and the black death that was so prevalent in the Middle Ages.

The Spanish flu, as the 1918 pandemic was known, infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide (about one-third of the planet's population at the time) and killed an estimated 30 to 50 million victims, including some 675,000 Americans. The death rate of those who contracted the disease was near 10%, compared to less than 4% attributed to COVID-19.

The Black Death of the 14th century was probably the most horrific, a recurring plague that decimated whole villages and towns across Asia and Europe. Cities like Florence and Paris saw populations reduced by more than half.

These examples are not meant to lessen the pain or impact of COVID-19 in our lives. They are but a sampling of what people have gone through and what we continue to endure as inhabitants of the earth. Today we share the pain of those who are suffering, but at least we have this: Across today's world we have governments, social agencies, hospitals, first responders and health care workers, scientists and economists, schools and universities, journalists, pastors and faith leaders, pharmaceuticals and benevolent organizations, who all - at their best - are trying to do everything possible to bring the present pandemic to a peaceful end.

Hopefully you will join me in prayer - that the God of all people bless the ill and dying, the above listed workers and institutions and people of good will everywhere as we join together in the quest for healing and the common good.

Paul G. Palmer

Arlington Heights