In the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic my better-half and I decided to join the ranks of the “Preppers” and go on a preemptive sortie to Costco. Our hopes of surviving the pandemic was dashed when upon arrival, Costco the king of retail, announced they were out of paper towels and toilet paper! Doom and gloom! Not only were they out of basic hygienic products but the crowds of Costco customers where packed in the aisles like a can of sardines. So much for prepping and stay away from close contact with potential contagions.

I don't recall I've ever seen an entire planet choose so many draconian actions to fight a contagious virus. I've been through a few pandemics in my lifetime such as Small Pox, Polio, Measles, HIV/AIDS, SARS, Ebola, and deadly strands of influenza but I've never seen entire world go bonkers over a mutated cold virus.

Whether we like it not, we will die of something, either now or later. When a threat pops up that could end it sooner, it's just human nature to react to it. But to react like we are now is unprecedented. Maybe “insanity” is a better word?

Every year thousands die of the flu and other epidemics and we don't go off the deep end. Everyday we're under the potential threat of deadly diseases or apocalyptic events like a solar flare that would turn our planet into a burned out cinder. There're geological/astrological threats like an ice age, massive volcanic eruptions or a collision with a massive asteroid that would end all life. Then we have the threat of world wide mutual destruction from nut jobs who have their finger on the nuclear weapons button. Do we obsess over it? Not like we are now.

I don't prescribe to believing everything I read but I read that the average exercise bike harbors 39 times more bacteria than a cafeteria tray. Typical free weights have 362 times more germs than a toilet seat. And the treadmill you're running on averages 74 times more bacteria than a typical public bathroom faucet! Stephen Hawking, the famed theoretical physicist, predicted that humankind has about 100 years to find a new planet. A promotion for a BBC documentary he appears in notes: “With climate change, overdue asteroid strikes, epidemics and population growth, our own planet is increasingly precarious.”

If there is one lesson to be learned by the coronavirus, is that most people will overlook our differences and work together to overcome a worldwide catastrophic threat. How many more catastrophes need we have to remind us how rare and precious life is? With the millions of institutions of higher learning why haven't we solved the paradox of why we can't seem to get along without a worldwide crisis?