[Inspired both
by the recent events I’ll include in Monday’s and Tuesday’s posts and the
historical anniversary on which I’ll focus in Friday’s, a series
AmericanStudying epidemics, past and present.]
On the inspiring,
redemptive response of a Puritan leader to an 18th century epidemic.
A few years
back, I had the chance to contribute some pieces to Maggi
Smith-Dalton’s wonderful “Salem
History Time” column for Boston.com. For my second and third pieces, I
focused on two sides to the story and history of one of Salem’s most prominent
citizens, Cotton Mather:
his moral and social failures
during the Witch Trials; and his subsequent, far more admirable responses
to the city’s smallpox epidemics. Mostly I wanted to use today’s post to
highlight those prior pieces, but I would say one more thing about these two
American histories: that they reflect a longstanding conflict between fear and
rationality, superstition and enlightenment, the worst of what we believe and
how it can divide us and the best of what we can learn and how it can save us.
In Mather’s own life, he moved from the former to the latter, from the Witch
Trials hysteria to his influential innoculations—may we all find ways to make
the same move, individually and collectively.
Last epidemic
tomorrow,
Ben
PS. What do you
think?
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