In one way we think a great deal too much
of the atomic bomb. “How are we to live in an atomic age?” I am tempted to
reply: “Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague
visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age
when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night; or
indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of syphilis, an
age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of
motor accidents.”
In other words, do not let us begin by
exaggerating the novelty of our situation. Believe me, dear sir or madam, you
and all whom you love were already sentenced to death before the atomic bomb
was invented: and quite a high percentage of us were going to die in unpleasant
ways. We had, indeed, one very great advantage over our ancestors—anesthetics;
but we have that still. It is perfectly ridiculous to go about whimpering and
drawing long faces because the scientists have added one more chance of painful
and premature death to a world which already bristled with such chances and in
which death itself was not a chance at all, but a certainty.
This is the first point to be made: and the
first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to
be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing
sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to
music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a
pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and
thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but
they need not dominate our minds. (https://americandigest.org/c-s-lewis-how-are-we-to-live-in-an-atomic-age/)
Though written in 1948, this essay from
C.S. Lewis resonates through the ages. Replace
"Atomic Age" with any modern personal or societal fear, like
"Coronavirus" or "terrorism" or your personal fear(s) and
the same applies.
Remember, we worship a God of strength,
love, and everlasting life!
May God continue to watch over you and
your families and protect you all. And
may God save the South!
