I was so surprised by Mr. Balentine’s opinion I had to read it twice. The Earth is indeed our friend, the friend we have taken from forever with little regard (“The Earth is our friend, and other viral lessons,” March 18). The friend we give little thought to in how we interact to sustainability. The world seeks a balance. It is not our enemy. She is the friend that we have borrowed from forever and never paid back.

We have taken resources with little thought of replacement. We have polluted until the rivers catch fire and we ourselves can’t breathe. We send our garbage across the world so we don’t have to think about it. We have killed animals to extinction by direct fire or neglect.

We are sustained by water. The crops that we cultivate for consumption are beyond natural growth. The air we breathe is provided by plants decimated by acres in a minute. Due to industry and comfort we put toxins in the air that change climate for every single living thing on the planet.

People are the beings to be afraid of. The diseases that have been spread historically are spread by the mobility of man and the poor regard we have in caring for our environment. We have overpopulated and removed nature from our lives to such a regard that this virus is a wake-up call to ourselves to clean up our act in a number of ways.

To describe the virus as a weapon of nature is presumptuous and self-indulgent. Man’s habits provided the perfect environment for disasters and this is the mess we need to clean up.

Get off the entitlement, Mr. Balentine. We are, in the end, selfish and indulgent animals, not sons of God.

Lee Cheever
Brunswick