Dear Editor,
In these stressful times, many people are living in a state of abject fear. We can chalk it up to the pandemic lunacy or to the awful panic that has been so cruelly fanned and amplified by the mainstream media and “social” media. Or, we can blame the Chicken Little syndrome. There is no earthly good to come from playing the blame game or from throwing stones. Neither of those things will ease a person’s fears. A reasonable period of sober introspection and calm discussion however, is likely to result in some measurable reduction in personal stress.
Former president Franklin D. Roosevelt, shortly after Japan’s navy attacked the U.S. Naval fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7th, 1941, attempted to reassure a terrified American citizenry, saying that “All we have to fear is fear itself”. I have never quite bought in to the totality of that statement, but allowing fear to overcome us is certainly poisonous and very damaging in many ways. Individual fear can actually be prudent in small doses, it keeps us on our toes, alert and aware. Collective fear and panic as we have seen so amply illustrates lately, is self- sustaining and self-amplifying. The supermarket panics and the runs on toilet paper are indicative of herd panic. I hate the thought of being run over by a mindless mob of otherwise good people who have been frightened into herd behaviors.
I believe we humans are better than that.
I believe we should always take stock of our surroundings and our current circumstances and make the best of the situation no matter what. It is said that you can only be walked on if you choose to lie down and become a doormat. I believe that the way we deal with fear can be viewed in the same light. If we stand up, look it in the face and fight it, we have at least a fighting chance to whip it. If, on the other hand, we just roll over, the battle is lost before it can begin.
Fear is hideously contagious and if not contained, it can cause completely irrational behaviors in the best of people. There is nothing to be ashamed of in being afraid, but to surrender to that fear is totally counterproductive. Fear can be overcome. I have had the privilege of knowing some real heroes who did some unimaginably brave things. Each one of them told me that they were ‘scared to death” while doing what they had to do. Having faced and then fighting through their admitted fear is what classifies them as heroic. Each and every one of those folks adamantly denied being heroic. Their comments were all about the same, those being “I just did what I had to do”.
Another face to this is, being terrified and unable to act does not make you a coward. If you try and cannot overcome fear, you will have at least tried. The coward is the person who has ample resources and abilities to deal with a frightening situation and refuses because he has decided before he could start, that he might be hurt or embarrassed or both. There is no inherent shame in being hurt or embarrassed. The issue is in refusing to even try. It is said that the coward dies a thousand deaths.
All this brings me back to my starting point of the horrid amount of fear- mongering going on all around us. Some illustrations of the damage brought about by the fanning of the flames of fear and panic are such as, some Governors greatly overstepping their bounds of authority and imposing ridiculous restrictions on citizens who are quite willing comply with reasonable measures to protect their own and the public’s health, but who balk at jack booted stupidity. There have been arrests foolishly made of people who were clearly in no position to harm anyone by their actions. Nonetheless, officialdom overreacted and made stupid and damaging moves against citizens. These sorts of actions are derivatives of fear. Yup, the officials were so afraid of their own imagined inaction that they went well beyond rational measures. And what did they accomplish? They managed to anger their own constituents and did nothing realistic for public safety.
If we all try to recognize fear for what it is and we at least try to look at it head on, we will have the battle half won. Analyzing a problem and devising one or more ways of addressing it is far more productive than cowering before it. Plus… it keeps the mind busy with productivity and away from dwelling on fear.
This Covid-19 pandemic panic is indeed quite fearful, but we need to see it rationally, for what is really is and try to deal with it in a rational manner. The most damaging aspect of this is the panic rather than the virus. Our economy and our culture have been permanently damaged more by the panic than by the illness.
Worse things have befallen our grand nation and our wonderful people and we have recovered and gone on to be better and stronger as a culture of individuals working together to overcome the fear that faces us all.
I have but one voice, but I say “Stand up! Face the fear and deal with that as the enemy. All the rest will fall into place when we stand together as one people in one culture, in one nation of kindred souls.
Jack Homell
Golden Valley
