Bubonic Plague

On a tour in London, I learned an interesting bit of history about the Bubonic Plague in the Middle Ages. According to this tour guide, when the disease started to spread they assumed that cats and dogs were the carriers of the infection and so they killed hundreds of them. Because it was really caused by the rats, killing their natural predators allowed the rat population to grow and made the disease worse.

In this is an interesting parallel. Right now it seems a lot of people are discounting and even calling the commandments detrimental to a happy and carefree life. Believing that it is those expectations that cause stress and pain, they are being ignored. In this way "killing" the very thing that can serve as a protector and ultimately leads to freedom and joy.

Just like killing the cats who prey on the rats and thus allowing the disease to run rampant, we can take away the very thing that can protect individuals and a society from slow but real destruction. I say, keep the commandments.