Recently, two brief news articles caught my attention. According to a study in the medical journal Pediatrics, during COVID-19, more than 120,000 children in the U.S have lost a parent or grandparent who was a primary caregiver. More than half of these children are Black (26 percent) or Hispanic (32 percent).
The second article would not have been as attention-getting had it not been for this word about children. Pharmaceutical company Merck has agreed to allow other drug-makers to produce its COVID-19 pill. The action is aimed at helping millions of people in poorer countries to access a potentially lifesaving drug. The agreement will allow licenses to be granted to other companies who are qualified to make the drug. Neither drug maker will receive royalties under the agreement as long as the World Health Organization deems COVID-19 to be a global emergency.
I read these articles and remembered a word from Scripture, and he hath made of one blood all nations of men (Acts 17:26). My reflection reminded me of an image from Kenneth Boulding: The burning oneness binding everything.
That image came from his response to his own question,
Can I, imprisoned, body-bounded touch
The starry robe of God, and from my soul,
My tiny Part, reach forth to His great Whole,
And spread my Little to the infinite Much…?
Then he answers his deep wondering:
And yet, some Thing that moves among the stars,
And holds the cosmos in a web of law,
Moves too in me: a hunger, a quick thaw
Of soul that liquefies the ancient bars,
As I, a member of creation, sing
The burning oneness binding everything. (Nayler Sonnet)
I doubt if the leadership of Merck has ever heard or considered that image, The burning oneness binding everything. Yet what they did in making a saving vaccine more readily available was an act for the sake of human kind. It is wrong to leave men and women in India and other places to die because a saving vaccine is not available to them when it could be. It is wrong to be unconcerned, and not act defensively against a deadly virus that has left 120,000 children without a primary caregiver.
The image is worth our ongoing reflection and responsive action, the burning oneness binding everything.