Everyone in the world is waiting for a vaccine for obvious reasons – no one wants to die from COVID-19.

As it stands now, there are 23 companies that are working on coronavirus treatments or vaccines. One of them, Israeli Bio-Defense Lab announced on May 5th, 2020 that it found an “antibody that neutralizes” the coronavirus. Those companies better rush, since our daughter, who is expecting her first baby in the beginning of September, informed us that we will probably have to wait until there’s a vaccination before we can meet our granddaughter. There have been cures for plagues for over 3,300 years. The Torah describes a plague, which struck the children of Israel who started sinning in the desert after their exodus from Egypt, and thousands began to die. Moses told Aaron to quickly take a firepan with incense (a ketoret) to go into the middle of the congregation and atone for their sins. “He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was checked. Those who died from the plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred.” (Numbers 17:13-14) But what was the incense called ketoret, and how did Moses know about this miracle cure? According to the folklore story, when Moses had ascended to heaven to receive the Torah, the Angel of Death, whose name was Satan, taught him the secret.

In 1796, Edward Jenner, a general practitioner from rural England, theorized that cowpox built one’s immunity to smallpox. He extracted a cowpox-infected lymph from a cow and inserted a small amount into the arm of an eight-year-old boy. Seven weeks later, Jenner injected a boy with smallpox. His immune system responded positively. This discovery led to the birth of the science of immunology. Vaccinations became a reality. The word is derived from the Latin vaccinus, meaning “of the cow”.

This story was inspired by the book titled “This is Earl Nightingale”. The book has been sitting on my bookshelf, and we have stared at each other, until I finally picked it up again. Since it was last published in 1983, it was awhile since I held it in my hands. I was first introduced to this remarkable author a few years earlier, when I listened to his recordings called Insight on audio tapes (remember those?), which served for me as motivation in my early years in San Francisco. His other book, “The Strangest Secret” used to be called, “One of the great motivational books of all time”.

The real question is – what to do – especially now, when the pandemic affects so many people’s line of work. Are you looking forward to returning to work, to earn money, to take care of your family, not to be dependent on the government support? I suspect you do. I will finish with a quote from a story: “Even in the meanest sorts of labor, the whole soul of a man (or a woman) composed into a kind of real harmony the instant he (or she) set himself to work.”

Yes, we have at least two forests. One is on Mount Davidson, not far from where we live. I used to visit it often, and have shared my experience in the Encounters stories a number of times. Actually, it is a 40-acre park with lush vegetation, and many trails, leading to the top where a huge concrete cross is located, which can be seen above tall trees. We’ve gone there a number of times with Max, but for some reason, he does not like it there (perhaps he smells coyotes). However, we recently discovered, almost by chance, another forest, which Max liked that is located “under our noses” so to speak, in the heart of Golden Gate Park.

I drive through the park at least three times a week on the way to Max’s dog sitter. In spite of the restrictions, it is full of life and young people. Many wear masks, but all seem to come here to have a good time. Recently, the Botanical Garden reopened its doors. Unfortunately, they do not allow dogs in. A friend of mine told me that some days she makes sandwiches and coffee and goes there to have lunch by herself, just sitting on the bench and reading a book. When was the last time you did that?

In spite of the Shelter-in-Place ordinance, we have been allowed to take our dog Max to his dog sitter, where he goes three times a week. This has given us the opportunity to focus on our work. When I recently brought him to his second “mum”, Jennifer was ready to go to the park, along with her eight “babies”. In the afternoon the dogs go to a different park with her husband Jim. When she opened the door of her van, Max jumped in and settled in on his favorite seat. Typically, when they get back from the park, Max settles in his big chair in her living room, and if some young dogs try to challenge him, it is enough for him to growl, and the order is established.

I think that love is the answer (or solution) for co-existence. I have easy proof of that statement. On August 8^th, my wife Elfa and I are going to celebrate our fifty-third wedding anniversary. In our lives, we are always together. In September, we are going to celebrate thirty-five years since we jointly started our mortgage company, Pacific Bay Financial. We both have different personalities and different interests, and do not always agree (at least not right away). But our love for each other, our family, our friends, our co-workers, our clients, our city, and our country has help us compromise and find what is important and lasting.

The common expression “every cloud has a silver lining” means that even the worst events or situations have some positive aspects. On vocabulary.com I learned that the phrase seems to be from Milton’s 1634 poem “Comus”. This expression came to my mind on the third day of the Shelter-in-Place order to protect us and the other fellow humans from being exposed to the Coronavirus, which has become an international crisis. On that day, March 18th, 2020, Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel called it Germany’s biggest postwar challenge. The Coronavirus became the only subject the world has been concerned and talking about nowadays. No one knows exactly when the pandemic will be over, in three weeks or, G-d knows when. Meanwhile, many lives have been changed. Pessimists expect the worst. Optimists do not know what to expect. I belong to the latter group, and live by the adage, “Seek for the seeds of victory in every defeat.” Therefore, in the middle of the unknown, I decided to look for the “silver lining”. When I googled “Silver Lining of the Coronavirus”, I found stories without any imagination. So I decided to go back into the past to find out what visionaries saw in the future. 

Turns out that to predict the future, to find the “silver lining”, requires very special individuals.

We live in times when everything is possible. Though most of us do not know what tomorrow will bring, somehow Jules Verne knew. All of his predictions came true. Therefore, use your own imagination and fantasize about unexpected silver lining that you would like those challenging events bring to all of us.