In the Matter of The Pandemic of the Illness of Fear

Fear of another race or faith is illness caused by ignorance. It is nowadays a pandemic. Fear of economic security is pandemic. Fear of politicians is real and pandemic. They even had a name for it. Fear based actions are pandemic. Fear of others is pandemic. Fear at this level is an illness. Like a mass hysteria. You may even have a sound basis for your fear. Everybody does. And we are not talking about individual fear here. We are speaking of the pandemic of the illness of fear. I have yet to find evidence of fear helping one tiny bit in this Corona Virus pandemic. But I have heard it has caused problems. (more later on that)

I had the normal flu. No question about getting out of my house. Wife and child being there. Bought the gas at the pump with a credit card so no contact for the travel. I simply had no fear. I was headed for a safe place down Mexico way. About 50 miles from there they politely told me that if I went there I could not come back for who knows how long.

So I went to plan C, I never have plan B’s. Five acres of land alone. I will get to the part of fear here. And so here is the list; Wolf, Coyote, Deer, Boars, Otters, Fish, Garter snake, Rattle snake, Black Hawks, Mountain lion – tracks, Bobcat tracks, Squirrels, and so many birds I cannot keep track. Wisteria, Orchids, Apple, Vinca, and a whole bunch of other plants coming into bloom which names escape me. Personally I am a bit fearful of Mountain lions and wolves. OK maybe that is the fear like in the Bible which is respect. And I do respect those animals. That illustrates that the respect type fear is not what we are talking about.

Then just toss in the Redrocks of Sedona the towering Mt. Wilson and stars that we sleep under that are blinding. I just said “we” because my son and his common law wife joined me. They literally quarantined themselves for 14 days prior. But we stay 6 feet away for another few days anyway. No fear just common sense. My son got a 6 foot stick to gauge and hit me with it. We were having a blast.

//An author’s note here. The above is all true. Except the stars do not blind and I left out the beautiful snow I had. Spring time inch of snow is the best! //

My son and his gal are musicians/composers. So I had been treated to concerts. Stories are told and laughter is contagious around the campfire, with favorite beverages all around. But the love fest needs to end. I miss my other son and wife so much. I can get home without another soul getting within that 6 feet. But I will still sequester in a bedroom bathroom and office for some days at home. I am not scared of the deal but do not look forward to it. Just rational behavior.

Anticipating something without looking forward to it is not fear. But hoarding is fear based. We have to be careful not to mistake stupidity for fear. Nowadays ignorance causing fear is darn near normal. There is a cool term “conclusions prior to investigations are wrong”. Again individuals do not count here. Think of a huge region like the Americas. Then add the word “Pan”. It basically means something of the entire Americas. Pan American. The Pan American Health Organization was formed in 1902. So you have epidemic and then pandemic.

I am being straight up with this word. Fear of this virus is as pandemic as the disease. No forget that, it is 50 times worse. Yes we know that fear is an emotion and to make it an illness it must elevate to irrational. But that is within one person. Is it different when Pan? To me that elevates a healthy fear to an irrational phobia.

About 13 deaths per 100 thousand people occur each year by car accidents. Are we covered in fear about driving or riding in a car? That would be rational, or closer. Just in L.A. about 200 people die a day. 42 thousand deaths a year from breast cancer a year in the US. And we know the common flu takes between 35 thousand to 60 thousand a year.

Where is the pandemic of fear here? There is not any. Women march and run to defeat breast cancer, not because they are afraid of it. Now fear of doing harm to another is a sticky wicket here. But I call that rational. Hoarding is a harm to another. That is based on a totally irrational fear. I like my term pan-irrational.

Ok so let us be done with such logic and get to the point.

Mental illness is basically a mental/emotional problem that rises to the level of interference in a normal life. Oh for sure, Lincoln and Van Gogh had it. So fear is an illness when it interferes with normal life. Therefor we ask; do we have fears that are interfering with our lives. Yes we do. Are some rational, yes they are.

My wife was rationally laid off. My son is rationally out of school. We take every precaution suggested. My wife insists on more precautions which I agree to even though they make no sense. And she is still afraid of the virus. That is just a matter of fact. That is irrational. That is what so many people suffer from. Rational precautions taken to the extreme and still fear. Yet she will text and drive? Now that is the irrational absence of fear. And some folks do that with this virus.

So what do we really mean by a “Pandemic of the Illness of Fear”? It is the absence of love in people’s lives. They turn their back on love and march forward into fear. And they do it mindlessly and on a global scale. If your heart and soul are filled with love then what room for fear?

You say; “fear is in the head and not in the heart”. And I just said in this case it is an illness. How then would love fix a mental illness? That is the really cool part. When I was little I did a lot of camping. I don’t use a tent much these days. But then I had to have a tent to keep me safe, from who knows what and how many. I protected myself by hiding in a fabric thing that in no way would keep me safe, except from weather. I was afraid of the dark instead of loving it.

Perhaps if my big brothers taught me to love it instead of scare me about it things would have been different. Sure they loved me but could have shown it. Kind of like the media scaring us with hype in order to sell. Well I ain’t buying it. 1,000 died over there, should not frighten me. I simply do not fear because in Detroit someone shot someone else. Again precaution of a judicious nature.

Let us wrap this up on what may seem a flip side. Just as the virus is more dangerous when one has an underlying medical condition, so is fear and isolation when one has an underlying mental health condition. Please watch them for signs just like you do the virus. Over 40,000 Americans die by suicide each year in the U.S. Again it is the giving of love that cures I found this site to be the best;

https://alberta.cmha.ca/news/covid-19-outbreak-protecting-your-mental-health/ Give them all your love and you will see it helps them love and cope and you cope hope.