Beyond the Virus

I help to take care of a 90 year old man.

Here in the midst of the worst virus scare of our lives (hopefully soon contained by testing and isolation) he sits on his back porch looking over an inter-coastal waterway and a forest preserve. This lovely little paradise is teaming with birds (even a flock of parrots shows up to feeder from time to tIme), and a rainbow of flowers (impatiens, hibiscus, roses, snap dragons, petunias)and majestic trees. He has always loved nature (he grew up the ancestor of farmers who had pedigrees back to the Mayflower). He had a large garden he maintained himself at his home until his health limited him.

I tell you this because today is his birthday where he turned 90, and as a life long severe asthmatic (he and most who knew never believed he would live this long). I truly believe that his longevity is deeply rooted in the following:

- his love of flowers and all growing things

-His love of people largely without prejudice to age/gender/ color/ socioeconomic strata

-His love of learning and he still reads the New York Times and Wall Street Journal and our local paper everyday.

• And finally, he has learned to let life’s challenges not get into his emotions. He doesn’t want death but doesn’t fear it either. But his focus on nature keeps his blood pressure and pulse down…
• MY SUGGESTION IS THAT WE ALL SURROUND OUR SELVES BY NATURE AS MUCH AS WE CAN IN THE COMING WEEKS.

After writing this, I came across this article which supports the idea of getting out into nature to help fight the virus and bacteria which seems to be suported by some pretty strong science: https://medium.com/@ra.hobday/coronavirus-and-the-sun-a-lesson-from-the-1918-influenza-pandemic-509151dc8065