The story of “Chicken Little is a cute kids story that demonstrates how panic really puts us in precarious positions. Written in 1840, it’s message is timeless. The synopsis is a chicken was walking one day and an acorn fell on its head. The chicken mistakenly thought the sky was falling. So Chicken Little rushes off in a panic for help. The following was taken from the end of the story:

The sky is falling and we are going to the lion to tell him about it, – says Ducky Lucky.

– Do you know where he lives? – asks the fox.

– I don’t, – says Chicken Little.

– I don’t, – says Henny Penny.

– I don’t, – says Ducky Lucky.

– I do, – says Foxey Loxey. – Come with me and I can show you the way.

He walks on and on until he comes to his den.

– Come right in, – says Foxey Loxey.

They all go in, but they never, never come out again.

The story lends sage advice to what is happening with the Coronavirus. We need to do pertinent things, strategies that make common sense, but we are seeing people panic and when this happens just like chicken little, mistakes are made. I was astonished to find out people are hoarding toilet paper, the product not introduced until around 1857. Not to be indelicate, but what did we do for all the centuries before its invention? Food, gas, water anything and everything that can be bought is being consumed in large quantities. Did you stop to think about the people that live week – to -week? They cannot afford to hoard items, their income will not permit that level of purchasing. Panic makes us think only of ourselves; we leave our humanity on the empty shelves in the stores.

The CDC has given us good suggestions to help isolate the virus and its spread. Take a deep breath and think of the others less fortunate than yourself. An average human being can go 40 days without food before it becomes critical. We can live 5 to seven days without water. We can only live a few minutes without air. Take a deep breath and quit living in fear. This is not a survival episode, this is life and we are seeing the worst in humanity right now. I pray each of you remain safe. I pray we find a cure for the virus that has disrupted so many lives. I pray that when it is all over we can be proud of our humanity and care for one another. Panic is often irrational, do not give it a place in your life.