What can I do?

By William Roger Jones

In these times of travail and vexation causing sorrow, pain and suffering one may ask: “What can I do?”

I submit that whatever you do, think of others also. By others I mean each person in every corner of the world. When you are thinking of others' situations, and sometimes it is in a comparison sense, then, perhaps you will be able to keep things in perspective. You will find your love and pity for the human race increase tenfold.

Our governments have not forsaken us. They are doing what they can do considering the circumstances of the logistics of supply and demand. Nevertheless, it is a most certain time for all citizens of the world to be charitable as possible with their goods as well as their money.

Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the U.S. said: “I deem it the duty of every man to devote a certain portion of his income for charitable purposes; and that it is his further duty to see it so applied as to do the most good of which it is capable. This I believe to be best insured by keeping within the circle of his own inquiry and information the subjects of distress to whose relief his contributions should be applied.” From Don Quixote: “Works of charity negligently performed are of no worth.”

Now, how much we ought to give should perhaps be a bit more than we can spare. If we are not “pinched or hampered,” we are probably giving too little. In charity there is no excess! I may be deceived and duped at times by any number of impostors and frauds, however, it will not bother me when all is said and done, for I would be tortured by a sense of guilt and it would be hard for me to bear to know that I had refused even one person in need.

Please accept my many quotations as a means of inspiration and purposely presented to have you rub one thought against another. Hopefully they hold your attention as to seep into your conscience for furtherance.

Although there are thousands upon thousands of different medications behind the counter, including antibiotics and vaccines, the world has not been cured. You see, protozoa, bacteria, and viruses like to mutate and so escape the control of previously designated drugs.

If we cannot have peaceful coexistence with this present somewhat drug-resistant viral infection, then we must keep a distance or stay in isolation. Modern medicine has achieved what some regard as miracles, such as the global eradication of smallpox caused by two viral variants that now only exist as laboratory stocks.

But still, despite recoveries, modern medicine presently hasn't saved all from immediate death. It has only postponed the appointment for many and we can be thankful for that as well. Perhaps the public has been complacent about infectious diseases since the development of antibiotics and certain vaccines after World War II, but infectious diseases have not been retreating. “Warning flags are still flying in the communicable disease field.”

Let us work together to do good and win this present war on disease. Let us be optimistic and have faith in our leaders and all our public health servants. Let us also pray.

The author (wrjones@vsu.edu) teaches English as a second language and is a chemistry lab coordinator and research technician at Virginia State University.