March 13th, 2020

Are you scared? At least, very concerned? Wondering what all this means for the future?

I know I am… I’m a 62-year old physician, I’ve spent a career dealing with life and death decisions on a daily basis, yet, I have no more answers than you do.

I also have two children who I love more than life. How can I not wonder if they will be able to enjoy some of the simple things in life that I’ve enjoyed?

In my day, we played outside without supervision. Our parents simply asked us to be home in time for dinner… and yes, we had dinner as a family every night.

As teenagers, we walked to school, took the train into the city by ourselves just to hang out, and traveled on planes in comfort without fear of terrorism or becoming deathly ill by breathing the air.

We drank water from hoses and water fountains. We went to baseball games, ate hotdogs and drank bottles of Coke, for just a few bucks. Most of all, our homes were open to all. We had guests stop by, unannounced, and we thought nothing about answering the phone or door to anyone.

No, life wasn’t perfect. JFK, Bobby, MLK were assassinated, many lost their lives fighting for civil rights in the 60’s, many more died in Vietnam —one of many worthless wars to come—indeed, there were signs of trouble on the horizon, even when we were living seemingly simpler lives.

We were slowly becoming more selfish, more distrustful of our leaders, and each other, and more fearful of international unrest, concerned over limited fuel and resources, and yet we were all rapidly adding to pollution, warming, and general harm to our atmosphere, land, and waters.

So now we have a choice… we can rush to the stores and fight over supplies and hide in our homes, watching the politicians and cable news anchors blame everyone else, be it their political enemies, or other countries and cultures.

Or we can come together as a world and finally realize that there is something greater than ourselves at stake here. We can realize that this isn’t a China, or Italy, or an American problem… it’s a world problem —a problem that we all contributed to, and only all of us can fix together.

The answer is not simply to “wash our hands” of our problems, but to own them. We need to come together as a world and help each other, improve the environment, stop fighting with each other, and start working together. We need leaders who are honest, educated, and transparent. We need news agencies to report the news, not their personal views. It’s not just pie in the sky, this is our moment… prayers may help, but God isn’t going to fix the problems we created. Only we can.

Let’s start by loving ourselves, taking better care of our own bodies and minds. Stop over-indulging in food, alcohol, and please stop taking drugs. Drive more carefully. Put down your cell phones. Exercise, take walks, meditate. Love your families and hold them close. Be good examples to your children and teach them to be responsible members of the world community. Tell them that you love them every day. Give them hope. Make them strong. Teach them to be smart, so that they can teach their children the same someday.

And finally, once and for all, help your neighbor —be it the person next door or the family suffering in a foreign land. Stop hatred. Stop fighting over land and stop trying to control millions of people through tyranny. It’s time that the United States, Russia, China, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East meet, talk, and begin to make changes that are all encompassing, with a simple goal —to make it a healthier, safer, and better world for our children.

This is our time… our moment. Please share and reflect on what really matters. In the end, all we ever really had on this planet was each other.

Blessings and hope to all.

Raymond Singer, MD
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania —USA
March 13, 2020

Article as it appeared when it was published in the Morning Call 3/22/2020