I have often pondered the phenomenon of various types of viruses and the manner in which antidotes are developed, deployed and work to combat and eradicate or prevent a particular virus. This may seem like a random thought to some, but increasingly we are told by medical research agencies and medical science that certain types of viruses are increasing in their potency and threat to human (and animal) health.
Life on planet earth is slowly growing more and more precarious and fragile, it seems. Of course, in one way or another, it has always been so. Human life as we have been able to follow history has always had its temporal vulnerabilities to environmental changes. The amazing thing is that our Creator has endowed human beings with such a strong "survival instinct", an unquenchable thirst and grasping for life, that we have, by His beneficent Providence, been able to come through a host of some of the most amazing and intimidating catastrophes, plagues, wars, genocides and environmental threats imaginable.
In the process of the challenging quest to live on this planet and survive and overcome developments such as those listed above, some of our making and some completely beyond our control, amazing "antidotes" have been discovered, developed and made available that have in some instances seemingly eradicated from human experience certain threats to human health and well-being. Penicillin, sulfa-drugs, vaccinations and a host of more recent breakthroughs have, at times, given people a sense that anything can be overcome with scientific knowledge, persistence and human ingenuity. On the other hand, in the last 15 years we are increasingly being warned that there are certain types of "viruses", or "super viruses", that seem to be emerging or morphing in ways and at an increasing rate that medical science has often pondered the possibility of viruses, and consequent diseases and health epidemics, that could potentially become a major threat, once again, to the safety and health of the "global family" the world of our time has become.
As sobering and disturbing as this perspective is, there are also other types of viruses that pose even more radical and deep-seated threats to human well-being and order in societies.
