For years now, Americans have been hearing about foreign diseases and epidemics and have received dire warnings about those diseases and epidemics. But by and large, those illnesses didn't come to our shores, or did so in only limited numbers. Zika, Ebola, SARS and other viruses didn't really affect most Americans, and we became complacent and assumed that we were protected by two great oceans that would somehow continue to keep global epidemics away.
The Buddha once taught that there were four types of horses. The first is startled on seeing the shadow of the rider's crop, and thereafter follows the wish of its rider. The second is startled when the crop touches its hair, and thereafter follows the wish of its rider. The third is startled only after the crop touches its flesh. The fourth is awakened only after the touch of the riding crop is felt down to its bones.
The Buddha explained that the first horse is like the person who hears about the death of someone in a distant land and immediately seeks solace in spiritual matters. The next horse is like the person who hears of the death of someone within their own community and only then seeks solace in spiritual matters. The third horse is like the person who has to hear of the death of someone near and dear to them before they seek solace in spiritual matters. The fourth horse is like the person who doesn't seek comfort in spiritual matters until their own body experiences sickness and suffering.
To put this into the current situation, the first horse is like the person who hears about sickness, disease and epidemics in distant lands and feels compassion and empathy for those affected. The second horse is like the person who hears about sickness, disease and epidemics in their own nation, and only then feels compassion and empathy for their fellow citizens. The third horse is like a person who has to hear that someone in their own family has contracted a sickness or disease before they feel any compassion and empathy. The fourth horse is like the person who doesn't feel compassion or empathy until they themselves experiences sickness and suffering.
Judging by the media and the comments that I see on line, most Americans in these days of Covid-19, the coronavirus, are like the fourth horse.
Seriously, wash your hands. Be kind to each other and animals, and don't use riding crops on horses, okay?
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