My life’s work as an international holistic health counselor/practitioner came into play far more than all the other holistic work I did at my business, The Massage Clinic, which had four offices: Stratford, Milford, Orange and West Haven, Connecticut. I personally held over 5,000 of the 8,000 appointments, many of which were doctor referred. In the course of my eight years there, prior to my retirement, I hired a total of nine other massage therapists who worked on the remaining clients. I treasured, and still to this very day still treasure, all people who came through the doors at The Massage Clinic. For the health of all other incoming clients and therapists working there, I sent more than one client home who had a “just a cold.” Even with “just a cold,” people need to practice prudence. Other words for prudence are: wisdom, carefulness, thoughtfulness, as taught in Lesson Two of my book, The Virtue of Virtues, now out for a second printing since 1999.
However, CORVID-19, is NOT “just a cold and NOT just the flu.” The common cold is a Coronavirus and some of the flu is also known to be a Coronavirus, BUT COVID-19 IS DIFFERENT. The common flu kills people at a rate of 0.095%, but COVID-19 kills people at a rate of 3.8% in most cases. According to the Center for Disease Control, CDC, the number of cases of last flu season were 49,000,000. Had that been at the same death rate that COVID-19 is this year, 3.8%, than that would be 1,862,000 deaths from the flu; but there were only 20,000 – 52,000 deaths from the flu last flu season. COVID-19 is dramatically more deadly. This fact is just as true here in the United Sates of America as it is in the countries hardest hit by the virus, such as China and Italy and Iran. In our country the death rate is actually higher since we have no accurate idea of how many people are affected. We did not in the beginning of the outbreak, and still do not, test for the virus.
Holistic counseling was at the heart of most every appointment, at the request of the clients. Some therapies were geared to silent sessions, but even those, clients began speaking to me, seeking a listening ear. People need people. We are social beings. However, prudence is telling all of us in every corner of the world to use social distancing, not shaking hands, staying home if we are sick (and not lying to ourselves that we are not really that sick), avoiding crowds, and using antibacterial disinfecting hand washes and wipes, and wear a mask if we present with ANY cold symptoms, even when we have gone out with “just the cold” symptoms before.
WE CAN GREET EACH OTHER WITH SMILES, NODS, USING OUR CELL PHONES FOR COMMUNICATION, NOT WITH HAND SHAKES, HUGS AND KISSES WE ARE ACCUSTOMED TO USING.
The dawning of COVID-19, which is far more deadly that the common cold and flu can be limited by the use of all of us worldwide using the virtue of prudence.
Now is not the time to promote being on the same political team, even if what is being said is scientifically inaccurate, as voters who have chosen a particular side can do in every country in the world, as if putting blinders on, refusing to even hear a different point of view will somehow diminish their momentum of getting their politician in office. Now is not the time for political rhetoric. Now is the time for prudence, no matter who you are or where you live.
Prudence is wisdom. Wisdom does not just come from Plato or Greek philosophy. Peter Kreeft is a Ph.D. in philosophy at Boston College, and author of over 75 books including Back to Virtue. According to Kreeft, the virtues, including wisdom, come from scripture. “They (virtues) are knowable by human nature, which God designed, not Plato.”
Kreeft has a Podcast at: www.peterkreeft.com.
Other books by Peter Kreeft are:
Handbook of Christian Apologetics
Christianity for Modern Pagans
Fundamentals of the Faith
Kreeft calls living the virtues, “a matter of life or death. There are, then, three reasons to practice virtue, one heavenly and two earthly. The highest heavenly reason is to please God, out of love for God, who is Love. The second reason is to be human, to have a healthy human soul. Virtue is soul-health. The third reason is to survive. In the nuclear age we must love one another or die. But the third reason will not work without the other two. For it fails to answer the crucial question why to survive, for what earthly or heavenly end?
“It is true, terribly true, that without virtue we will not survive; that if we do not go back to virtue we will soon return to the jungle or to the dust. But we cannot survive without a reason to survive, and this must sooner or later land us in the realm of ultimate reasons, the realm of religion.
“I want to prove three principles, which are related logically in a syllogism:
1. Without virtue, civilization dies.
2. Without religion, virtue dies.
3. Therefore without religion, civilization dies.
“In other words:
1. Virtue is necessary for the survival of civilization.
2. And religion is necessary for the survival of virtue.
3. Therefore religion is necessary for the survival of civilization.”
Right now we have the opportunity to practice all of the virtues, but especially wisdom, which is prudence, to counteract the ignorance and willful dumbing down of society that only looks at one of the facts, the ones than are on “our side.” Let us wake up, pay attention to the scientists and doctors trying their best to tell us how to best survive and the precautions to take; and to the religious leaders inspiring us to Love, as God is Love, in order to save this one planet we all call home.
If you would like to get your copy of The Virtue of Virtues to help you teach the virtues to your grade five through eight children; if you are a school principal and/or teacher, if you home school your children, or if you are with a grade five through eight CCD program, no matter where you are in the entire world, you can get The Virtue of Virtues, available in soft cover for $10.00 and eBook $3.99 at:
https://www.iuniverse.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/809142-the-virtue-of-virtues
God Bless