Baruch N. Greenwald (M.S.W.)

Since the beginning of 2020 we are witnessing extreme changes in individual, social and community behaviors as a result of the unparalleled spreading of the Corona virus. Many live in fear and anxiety, unaware of what their futures will bring. I believe that this period of distress and worry can also be converted to an age of development, opportunity, and hope. Mankind in the 21st century has been intoxicated by a false myth of "control". We live in an age of remote control where can adjust the temperature of our home from our car and Mission Control in Texas is able to control a space craft two billion miles from Earth.  As medicine advanced from X-rays to antibiotics to Magnetic Resonance Imaging, more and more people were expecting their diagnosis to be clear cut and a cure immanently available. Corona is teaching us to expect the unexpected. Many lack the tools needed to cope with the new reality. Some are more vulnerable than others: the aged, the anxiety-prone, the insecure.

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Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails (Proverbs 19:21).

 

For a religious and believing individual, understanding our inherent lack of any possibility of total control over one's fate is an axiom. For an atheist it should be a fact. Cognitive-Behavior Therapy is a 20th century empirically proven tool based on the concept that each individual's automatic, often irrational thoughts are at the core of his/her emotional distress. In the age of Corona we need to be clearly taught that how we interpret today's reality will determine our ability to cope with it. That understanding may be difference between despair and hope.