The plague is real. The death, suffering, pain and loss it brings are real. The loss of a parent or grandparent is real. The loss of a mother or father is real. The loss of a child is real. The loss of a friend is real. Many have lost jobs, income and a sense of future. Many, isolated at home, have lost the close, warm connection with family, friends and the world outside their front door.

Plagues bring death to humans, as they have to the millions who died in the Black Death of the middle ages and the Flu Pandemic of 1918. And as we face and reflect on the terrible reality of this current plague, we can in our time of waiting think about the plague in a different way, as well, think of the plague as a metaphor.

During this difficult, hermetic time, I have reread Albert Camus The Plague. A novel, written in 1947, it describes what happens when a deadly plague strikes the French Algerian town of Oran and how various people react to it, especially when the whole town is quarantined and shut off from the rest of the country. Many think Camus saw the plague in this novel as a metaphor for fascism, how it infects people with its deadly ideas.

As I, like many of you, have adjusted to this hermit way of living, I have also thought about the plague as a metaphor, a metaphor for human existence: how humans cause the death of things like tolerance, love, truth, wisdom, natures beauty and authentic pleasure. And, of course, how we cause death through the plague of war.

Wars and rumors of wars. I cant think of a time without wars. Especially now when we are so connected globally and daily hear about wars in other lands. Of course the last century saw millions die through World Wars I and II. And we almost obliterated ourselves in nuclear war, which might still be a possibility. And not only do we die, but we have killed off many other living species through our reckless exploitation of lands and oceans. Even the planet is in danger through climate change.

And while we are free, many live under totalitarian regimes that forbid the freedom of thought and religion. When will that plague end?

Intolerance and hatred drive wars and their devastation. Political divisions and religious differences are but a few of the plagues of hatred that still rage in our midst.

Oh, those others, they are so evil. Although we have eliminated the plague of slavery, we still spread the plagues of racism, sexism, homophobia and more.

This current plague has once again exposed the plague of inequality. I grew up in Detroit where now many of those who have died are black and/or poor. We have not eliminated economic insecurity for many of those who work hard at minimum wage jobs, and who have no health insurance. We have not provided the homeless with shelter, food and care.

We cherish our freedom, yet we live our ordinary, normal lives in the plague of consumerism, where we are infected with the need and desire to buy, buy, buy whatever is new, whatever promises us a fleeting, superficial glory and joy of the beads of success. We shine outwardly and diminish inwardly.

What, then, can this plague teach us as we reflect in our stay-at-home time? Certainly, we must be even more conscious of our love of family and friends, our love of their voices and hugs. We must care for those who suffer from want and indifference. We must see the plagues we bring upon ourselves and others. To do this we must be aware of the carriers of our human plagues. In Camus The Plague, the carriers are first rats, then people. For us the rats are too often those who use social media to spread hatred and untruth. We must, through reflection and spiritual growth, become immune to the hatred they spread.

Yes, we must grow our compassion for all of us, in our community, our nation, and our world. We must stop our plagues. As the poet W.H. Auden said in his poem September 1, 1939, We must love one another or die.

Jack Hernandez is a retired director of the Norman Levan Center of the Humanities at Bakersfield College.

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COMMUNITY VOICES: Reflections on the plague - The Bakersfield Californian