We humans are funny creatures.
If you ask the average person on the street what they want and hope for, chances are pretty good that they just want to be left alone to live a peaceful and happy life. I recognize that's an incredibly broad statement, but hang with me for a bit.
Extreme close-up of the spines of a cactus
And yet?
So many folks out there seem to be not only the purveyors of fear, they choose to live in permanent fear — the very thing they are trying to get away from.
The statement in the title of this post is absolutely true and has very likely been absolutely true for as long as we have had buses on the road. That's not in question.
The question — metaphorically speaking — is why so many choose to make such a fear-based observation the centerpiece of their awareness, when there are so many other things you could give your energy and attention to.
I find myself looking out at the current shitshow in our world and wondering about our species.
I'm not questioning whether or not Covid-19 is "real" or whether or not it's potentially deadly, what I ponder is how people are responding to this situation.
Consider, for example, that in 2020 an estimated 1.8 million people in the US will be diagnosed with cancer. And out of them, 1/3 will die. That's a 30+% mortality rate.
Regardless of transmission method or mortality rates, my point is that (most) people do NOT live in a constant state of fear and near-panic on account of the possibility that they could discover they have cancer, with the attendant very good chance that they might die. The country isn't shut down because "cancer is out there."
In both cases, something largely invisible takes hold of a human body and the result is potential death.
And yes, you could be hit by a bus, too. 35,000 people in the US will die in traffic accidents in the US this year... but we haven't yet banned roads, and people haven't yet decided that the only way they can leave home is to wear personalized "airbag vests" (yes, that's actually a thing) every time they leave the house to go for a walk.
Being Alive is Dangerous!
Seems to me that very little has changed, in terms of being human and being alive.
Being alive is dangerous: there are diseases, bears in the woods, traffic, pieces of falling satellites and all manners of other things out to "get" us.
But it has always been so.
So maybe the only thing that has actually changed is the degree to which we have become fearful of death... and death avoidant, even. Almost as if we have gone from a general feeling that death is inevitable to a skewed impression that death has become optional.
When I was a little kid, we drank from the garden hose and even puddles in the woods, and we rode our bikes with zero protective gear and no helmets. Now kids practically have to wear safety gear to take the trash cans out to the curb.
That's not about changing reality — reality simply is that it is — that's about changing attitudes.
And it doesn't mean we shouldn't be sensible, when confronted with life's hazards... but this whole living in perpetual fear thing — and I'm NOT just talking Covid, here — surely takes away from our quality of life, doesn't it?
Thanks for reading, and have a great week!
How about YOU? Do you think society becomes more and more fear-based, as time goes by? Why have we grown afraid of things that have always been there, and never used to bother us? What can we do to HEAL all this fear? Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!
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Created at 20200902 15:14 PDT
0106/1333