The world of Tzu Chi June 2020 (Vol.123)

07 TZU CHI 123 record of so great a pestilence and destruction of human life … The nature of the disease was beyond description, and the sufferings that it brought to each victim were greater than human nature can bear. There is one particular point in which it showed that it was unlike the usual run of illnesses: the birds and animals which feed on human flesh either kept away from the bodies, although there were many unburied, or if they did taste them it proved fatal.” Thucydides also observed that the plague was believed to have originated in Ethiopia before spreading to other nations such as Egypt, Libya and Athens. The ever-present threat of viruses Mankind has since made great strides in the pursuit of medical knowledge as modern technology advanced by leaps and bounds. The continued progress of the medical field has facilitated the invention of various remedies, vaccines, healthcare equipment and methods of treatment, significantly fortifying our ability to defend against various afflictions. Nevertheless, the threat of infectious diseases to human life and property lingers in our midst. On July 27, 1976, the first person to have contracted the Italian painter Cristoforo Majorana captured the grim atmosphere surrounding the Black Death, with Death itself epitomized by a skeletal figure wielding a scythe, perched upon a carriage drawn by black, emaciated bulls, crushing the piles of corpses strewn over the land. [Image sourced from the New York Public Library archive] Are We Ready for the New Normal?