Divine Lessons From the Spanish Flu
Written by Rev. Dr. Scott Paczkowski
“For they are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. ”
I read an interesting article in the Washington Post a few weeks ago entitled, “Will the pandemic make us nicer people? Probably not. But it might change us in other ways,” by Roxanne Roberts. Roberts gives us good reason to doubt our society will learn its lessons from our pandemic nightmare. We’ve all seen the “…feel-good stories about celebrating essential workers, uplifting local businesses, appreciating what we have-all shining a light on our better angels. A year ago, Kelly Ripa told The Washington Post, ‘I think we’re all going to be better off for this’ because ‘we’re all being satisfied with less.’”
Rather than agree with Kelly Ripa, Roberts looks back at our history. She quotes Laura Spinney, author of Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World. “If you talk to public health experts, they talk about us going through this cycle of panic and complacency: We panic when a pandemic declares itself, and then we forget about it as soon as it’s gone.” Sinney reminds us of all the war monuments commemorating the dead, but there isn’t one to be found for those who died from the Spanish Flu. Between 50 & 100 million died worldwide, and nothing to commemorate their suffering and loss!
Spinney responds, “Humans make sense of life through compelling stories, that’s why some events are recorded in our historical memory but others are not.” War stories are often more glamorous than stories about getting sick. Add to this the many misinformed Covid deniers, and the story may not be adequately told or remembered. This failure to remember would be a terrible outcome. If this pandemic is not recognized and its victims not honored, we just might fail to learn and be forced to continue to endure Covid’s wrath for many years to come.
Today, pray for the Divine wisdom necessary to remember and faithfully respond. While it may be easier to forget than relive the pain of this past year, forgetting has a negative price. The Israelites remembered their slavery in Egypt as a means of acknowledging past mistakes and the promise of Divine grace that is sure to come again. We need to remember and learn from our mistakes and trust in God’s ever-present grace.
