Home Letters Time for us to take the reasoned medical high road available
Dear Editor,
As the pandemic rages on, it is cause for us to sit and reflect as we pilot our way forward. Pandemics, plagues, or what you might want to call them are not new phenomena under the sun; these are age-old issues that have gripped mankind at various times in the course of history. How we respond to these occurrences is another matter, however; as pandemics are issues in life that confront us at various intervals in our human existence.
As a believer myself, I reflect on the story of the Children of Israel on their way to the promised Canaan. At one stage of their journey, they encountered fiery serpents which at one bite caused instant death. The venomous snakes were lurking all around, and in their sprawling camps, the Bedouin Israelites were sitting ducks, as anyone could easily get bitten and die. Hundreds of people were turning up either sick or dead, and the health officials of the day were overwhelmed by the numbers. Something had to be done, and done fast to save the lives of the people.
In that scenario something had to be done, and through divine intervention, a plan was made to construct a statue of the same serpent that was killing them and mount it on a pole. All those who became affected by the venomous bite, as they cast their eyes on the light coming from that bronze statue, they were healed.
Incidentally, that bronze statue to this day remains the symbol of health and healing.
Like now, I am sure there were the naysayers who questioned why they should look upon a statue of a serpent when that same serpent was the cause of sin, as the Genesis story tells us. They might have vehemently argued that it was a ploy designed by Moses to kill them off faster than the bite of the snakes, and, as such, many did not look, and they died.
My point is, it only took one look and a life was saved. In a similar way, it only takes two jabs of the vaccine and you are potentially safeguarded against this deadly disease called coronavirus.
Come on, people; we are in the midst of a deadly pandemic, now is not the time for high flown rhetoric and arguments that lead to nowhere, now is not the time for that. I say now is the time for us to take that reasoned medical high road available to us and live.
Respectfully,
Neil Adams