Living Or Dying

MAN, SAID ARISTOTLE, is a social animal. Each year, in the United States, forty five thousand people commit suicide, and nearly one million do so world wide. this is roughly equal to the number of people who die in auto accidents each year. The numbers are increasing in America, in all age groups. Future research may find that social distancing exacerbated the under reported suicide problem by contributing to its underlying cause; loneliness. The accompanying enormous increase in domestic violence both in America and worldwide is beginning to attract attention; every day hundreds of women are murdered in their own homes, often in the sight of their children, who are thereby forever scarred, psychologically. Perhaps the term should be "physical distancing'; social media provides a feeble substitute for connections, if nothing else. In the best of times, we have trouble getting along, In the worst, we become vicious, murderous. With the world growing weary of precaution, the virus is threatening to launch a second attack in China, and other places. The Americans are becoming so angry and frustrated that they are beginning to prefer risking another viral outbreak to home confinement. What would have happened had the world taken no steps to thwart the epidemic, if the United States had started baseballs season? By now millions might have died, as millions have done from the flu.If we choose to let the virus come again, we may lose millions yet. Yesterday I took a walk around a beautiful lake, and looked from a cliff down upon the beautiful water. there sat a fisherman, and i just stood and watched him, not wanting to bother him. He greeted me, and we both agreed it was a beautiful day. When I got back to my car a young man asked me whether I would give him a jump; his battery was dead. it made me feel good to do this simple act of kindness. I felt, for a few minutes, a sense of connection.