Crossroads

William G. Hoy Baylor University While we are reading a lot about the illness- and death-toll of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic upheaval of securities markets, we are seeing comparatively little about the real impact on the poor, and the new poor of this experience. In my personal devotional time this week, I looked again at Psalm 112 --a text shared by Jews and Christians but whose principles are timeless and trans-religious. Among other things, this author writes of the person who "respects the Lord" and seeks to live a life of righteousness and justice. But, it is verse 9 that speaks volumes to me: " They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor, their righteousness endures forever; their horn will be lifted high in honor " (New International Version). There is no promise of "give and get" here that is so often predicted by the so-called prosperity gospel. Instead, the words are a simple declaration of fact: when we give generously, lit...

William G. Hoy Baylor University On the April 14, 2020 episode of the CBS hit drama NCIS , naval investigators Ellie Bishop (Emily Wickersham) and Nick Torres (Wilmer Valderrama) interviewed a 95-year old Pearl Harbor veteran who quizzed the two. "When was the attack on Pearl Harbor?" he asked and neither could give a date. "How many died on the U.S.S. Arizona?" he asked more fervently, and again, neither could provide a number. "Then bring in the old Marine with gray hair; I'll only talk to him," the older man demanded. In my clinical faculty role at Baylor , I teach History of Medicine --and I know a little of the older veteran's pain. Many of my young students have little sense of the specifics of what has gone before and when it happened, a point I take as dangerous for the culture in general. As George Santayana wisely reminded us: "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Throughout the current Coronavirus...