Screwtape Letters. Michael Wade cites The Screwtape Letters as a book he comes back to at times like this. It prompted me to remember the C.S. Lewis book, which is a series of letters from the Devil to Wormwood, his underling, advising him how to tempt a human suffering during the horrors of World War II. It reads like a list of things a Stoic would never do in time of trial. Be angry at others. Encourage the human to let his mind worry about all the disasters befalling him. Feed the human’s anxiety about the future by prompting him to try to control events beyond his control. You don’t need to believe in God to understand that a rational human realizes that tragedy and evil are going to happen, and that accepting it and living anyway is the best path to follow. Thanks, Michael, for reminding me that great authors have dealt with stuff like Coronavirus throughout our history. Screw Screwtape.