Roughly 530 years ago the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, funded by Spain, traveled across the Atlantic Ocean and made contact with the indigenous people in what we now know as the Americas. One of the realities of those initial encounters is that they did not impose social distance, wear masks or self-quarantine for two weeks, and so Columbus and his crew introduced the indigenous population to diseases to which they had no immunity and which killed off well over 50 percent of them in short order.

Yet history does not assign malicious intent to Columbus and his crew for the deaths that resulted from their arrival in the region. It is merely viewed as an unfortunate reality that occasionally occurs as the result of international exchanges.

Fast forward through the years to today and the current outbreak of a novel coronavirus of unclear origins, which has infected millions of people and resulted in thousands of deaths worldwide, and the situation is different as there are some attempting to weaponize the virus by assigning blame for where the virus originated from. As if there needs to be some sort of reckoning in relation to the disruptive spread of the virus, with the guilty party－as identified by those weaponizing the virus－to be punished for their alleged transgression and made to pay for it.

But trying to assign blame to some specific party for the pandemic is akin to trying to assign blame for the weather. The creation and spread of such a virus cannot be comprehensively controlled any more than the weather can be comprehensively controlled. Nature functions and evolves in a variety of ways and with a variety of effects. To think we can comprehensively control such natural phenomena is folly and to assign blame for such phenomena is folly, as well.

It has been said that the novel coronavirus originated from bats. As such it is part of nature's functioning. It is highly unlikely that a group of bats congregated to maliciously create a circumstance whereby thousands of human beings would die as a result of their hosting the virus. If this can be proven then let us hurl critical commentary at bats and condemn their undesirable habits that unleashed COVID-19. If we go down that path then we should also practice penance for human habits that have been known to negatively impact bats. But it is not only bats that should be absolved of any malicious intent, we should also not assign blame to a particular group of people for the pandemic. It has been determined that the virus has not been engineered in a lab. No one maliciously created the virus. People have merely inadvertently spread the virus.

Unfortunate events like this have occurred throughout the history of the world and they will continue to occur. To use this as opportunity to criticize perceived adversaries－to weaponize the virus－does nothing to help remedy this most challenging disease outbreak. If anything it is counterproductive. Throughout the history of the world there have been natural disasters that have resulted in the death of millions. COVID-19, in essence, is one of those situations and its cause should be recognized for what it is－a virus.

It should also be recognized for what it is not. It is not a reason to hate, attack, criticize or stigmatize any group of people. All nations are suffering from the virus and all nations support the desire to put an end to the pandemic. We should be putting our energies into finding a cure and combating the effects of the virus rather than engaging in meanspirited finger-pointing. To attempt to assign blame is to punish the victim. And in this case we are all victims. It should be reassuring to know we can all be beneficiaries, as well. After this virus has been conquered we will all reap the benefits of living in a world that is wiser with regard to what such a virus is, how the effects can be minimized and how such a pandemic can be avoided in the future. And we can proceed with the awareness and assurance that comes from us joining together in meaningful ways so as to jointly approach such a challenge. There are benefits to be realized.

Moving ahead, we as a global community should interpret attempts to assign blame for the existence of the virus as a form of bullying. Bullying often grows out of the irrational assignment to a victim of meanings that are without merit. And such assignment is often used as rationale for persecution. Just as with bullying that occurs among children we often have adults who will diffuse such situations. In this case we need more people, and nations, to respond in mature ways and shed light on those ill-intentioned individuals who seek to benefit themselves and/or their cause by employing such hateful barbs.

The pandemic has challenged us in many ways. It will take a while for us to address the situation and get back on our feet but I am confident we will in due time. And, as with overcoming other challenges, we will be better for it and more confident going forward. That enhanced confidence will benefit us when we are confronted with our next global challenge－and there certainly will be future challenges that confront humanity. When we address such global challenges we should proceed with grace and goodwill toward all living things－even bats.

The author is a faculty member at Cleveland State University (Cleveland, Ohio) and a visiting scholar at Fudan Development Institute. The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.