The order of nature

Harry Scherer
Class of 2022

(4/2020) Things are different now. Can you sense it? A virus is attacking our nation and we have been called to battle, willingly or not. We, the height of God’s creation, are being mocked as a non-thinking and non-feeling biological weapon attacks us. Our intelligence is being insulted as we desperately search to find a match for a virus that does not even know the damage that it is causing; it is simply existing. We wait with bated breath for the newest developments in a constantly emerging pandemic without realizing that this sometimes-vain search for knowledge and social isolation has already made us victims of the infection, just those of a much smaller degree.

These realities are all occurring as we remain distant from our non-immediate family, friends and workmates, forcing us to look ourselves in the mirror. Overnight, we were forced to begin a quasi-monastic lifestyle with no estimated time of completion. During this time especially, there are many persons who are suffering from the plague that is racking our nation and our world.

The first obvious subjects of my thoughts are the physical victims of the novel coronavirus. For them, the potential has become a reality. They live with the often experienced yet often overlooked suffering of the unknown. As they watch the global death toll slowly rise higher, they wonder if their mortality will become a medical statistic.

The second subjects are their families. With a growing fear of contracting the virus, they patiently wait to see how their loved one can physically and emotionally respond to the infectious enemy that approaches and defeats in silence.

The third subjects are the medical professionals who have spent their entire careers wondering if a time will come when the entire world will be looking to them to provide an answer. In a time of pandemic, this world can often devolve into one of impatience, restlessness and selfishness. In order to fight against this growing anxiety, they feel that it is their responsibility to calm everyone to patience, peace and selflessness.

The fourth subjects are those business owners who rely on their own tireless efforts to provide for their families. The pandemic is not in the hypothetical for these persons who devote their whole selves to endeavors that form communities and aid to the common good.

The fifth subjects are those students, especially seniors in college and high school, who anticipated two short months with their friends before the summer break or plunge into the deep. For some, this means leaving a place that reminds them every day of the person they could and should be and returning to a place that only brings heartache.

The sixth subjects are those elderly persons who see nothing unique about the isolation and loneliness that many are experiencing because of quarantine mandates. For these persons, waking up and falling asleep alone is the norm and they suddenly are seeing many in their communities share their everyday reality.

The seventh subjects are those who do not fit into any of the preceding categories. These are the persons who have yet to recognize the severity of the infection and the lasting impact that it and our response will have on this and future generations. These could also be those who recognize the impact but still have to suffer along with the rest of those in their communities because of the previously mentioned and daunting unknown.

For the sake of clarity, I believe that much of the anxiety and fear surrounding this virus find their foundation in the modern notion that our technology and political leaders can solve the world’s perennial problems. As is being proven right now in this pandemic, we know that these prior assumptions are not the case.

Instead, those who are suffering from the virus and its effects are being pulled quickly into recognizing deeper metaphysical and epistemological truths. In a culture of radical individualism like our own, we are being forced to see that our lives are not our own and that our own plans sometimes take a back seat to the good of our neighbor. Put simply, we are being called back to nature, and, one a deeper level, we are being called back to God.

We should consider why it is significant that we are being called back to nature. This is the time that we, and many cultures around the world, celebrate Earth and Arbor Days. When done correctly, these days are supposed to remind individuals of both the glory of the gift of God’s creation and the immense responsibility that we have in preserving and caring for this creation, that is, in properly receiving the gift. We recognize the beauty of nature because we see that it bears an intentional order. The source of this pandemic especially reminds us of the importance in cooperating with the order of creation. With regard to this novel coronavirus, there was a twofold responsibility that was neglected in the spread of the infection.

First, the organization of notoriously unhygienic wet markets in Wuhan served as a breeding ground for the spread of the virus from the infected animals to the populated groups of consumers. When animals are butchered and sold on site in the midst of persons, nature will take its course and the virus will spread. The second overlooked responsibility was on the Chinese Communist Party. A study published on the 11th of March out of the University of Southampton found that the spread of the virus could have been curtailed by 95% if Chinese officials would have acted three weeks earlier, 86% two weeks earlier and 66% one week earlier. The global spread of the virus is proof of what occurs when we do not recognize the order of nature.

In this time of social distancing and relative isolation, we have the responsibility to realign and reconsider our understanding of nature and our relationship with God, the Creator of nature. We have an awesome opportunity in this time of deprivation to reconnect with ourselves, nature and our Heavenly Father, for our sake and for the sake of our world.

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