Where do we begin – where do any of us begin – in talking about the COVID-19 pandemic that is upon us? From global involvement to personal isolation. From acute respiratory failure to economic collapse. From inconvenience in personal lives to a solitary death. From despair to hope.

One hundred years from now will anyone know, or even care, what happened to us today? One way to answer this is by asking another question: What do we know about the pandemic that our people suffered one hundred years ago?Actually, it was one hundred two years ago – 1918. It's name: the Spanish Flu. And, oh, what suffering the world, our nation, and our families endured.

My paternal grandfather died in this pandemic. He left behind his wife and her three small boys, my father the middle child at two years of age. To survive, she had to escape from her family's flood-prone homestead on Mud Creek, north of Roseau, to a bigger town (Int'l Falls) where survival was at least possible. Beyond these facts, much is missing in the story. The story is silent about the details of my grandfather's death and the environment of sickness and death that gripped the world at this time.

If you are feeling inconvenienced, isolated, financially burdened, ill-informed, ill-prepared, or uncertain about your and our future in the face of this killer pandemic, then step back and watch a one hour documentary recently aired on PBS titled, 'Influenza 1918.' (It’s available online here.) Get ready for a sobering and shocking look into the many parallels between that event and the events of today.

The human spirit of survival has yet to be extinguished, and our fate yet resides in our collective hands and His hands, not ourselves.

On my walk of faith,

Cliff Hill

Adult Education Team