Pandemic in Perspective

Every plant and animal species seems to suffer through one periodically. Take trees, for
example. In very recent history the Dutch Elm Disease pandemic wiped out all but a few of
the stately elms that thrived throughout eastern North America. The magnificent walnut
suffered the same fate earlier, and pine trees in the Rocky Mountains continue to die at a
pandemic rate far exceeding that of people. We are all subject to the same natural forces.
It’s vital for us to recognize that nature is behaving now exactly as it always has. The virus
causing this pandemic among humans keeps finding good places to settle down, reproduce,
and spread, but humans and all other species do the same thing, often with disastrous results
for others. But, in one way, humans are special. As far as we know, only humans have the

capacity for self-reflective consciousness. This means that we have the power to choose

between controlling and symbiotic relationships, as in a well-balanced marriage or
partnership. If we were to choose being keepers rather than rulers, between being sustainers
rather than dominators, between being friends rather than enemies, we would have learned

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