Living in Fear

The words "fear not" appear in the Bible about 365 times. Once for every day of the year. I think it was FDR who said we have nothing to fear but fear itself. And that may very well be the case. But thinking back, I realize that most of my life I have been afraid of something.

When I was a little girl, I was afraid of displeasing or disobeying my mother. I was afraid because there were consequences and they were unpleasant. When I was a teenager I was afraid of getting caught doing something I knew I wasn't supposed to do. (But I wasn't afraid enough not to do it.)

I still do things out of fear. For example, I wear a seat belt when I'm in the car. I wrecked my car decades ago. Even though it was the law, I chose not to wear a seat belt. It wrinkled my clothes. It was uncomfortable. But then a car hit me and my car (a big Buick Roadmaster) was spinning out of control - because you know it happens in slow motion - and when it finally stopped, I was in the passenger seat. It wasn't a matter of sliding across a bench seat. I had to be thrown over the console to get there even though I don't remember that happening. It didn't take long to occur to me that if I'd had my seat belt on, I might have remained in the driver's seat and maintained control of the car instead of having it spin around like a thrill ride. I've worn a seat belt ever since because I'm afraid of losing control of the car, and while a seat belt doesn't guarantee that I'll retain control, it helps. The only way to guarantee it won't happen is to avoid getting in cars.

I use the handrails when I go up and down stairs because I'm afraid of falling, something I wasn't afraid of when I was younger. Handrails are required by building codes even though young people don't actually use or need them and there is no law requiring you to hold the rail. The spacing of banister rails is also dictated by building codes - to keep people (children mostly) from falling through them - although it doesn't seem to prevent them from getting their heads stuck between them.

I use a potholder when I take things out of the oven because I'm afraid of burning myself. I've accidentally done it, and it hurts.

Now there's coronavirus. So many people are upset about wearing a mask To hear them tell it, not only are you living in fear, but the government is controlling you. Or maybe it's the media controlling you. Whatever. You are accused of not being able to think if you have a mask on. You're seen as weak.

If you look back at pictures from 1918, people were wearing masks during the Spanish Flu pandemic. And if they weren't living in fear, perhaps they should have been. The Spanish Flu infected about 500 million people worldwide (about one third of the world's population) and killed about 50 million of them. They had some of the same issues then. Learn More

I don't understand people. I truly don't. If there's a simple, cost-effective way to reduce the risk of being infected or infecting someone else, why wouldn't people be all over it? I guess for the same reasons that people don't want to wear a seat belt.  People I know who wouldn't dream of taking a hot pan out of the oven without a potholder are more than happy to hang out in public places with people they don't know and take their chances with a virus that could kill them, especially if they have any underlying health issues.