A Crisis of Fear: My Take on the COVID Craze
Before you read this, hear me out: I have personally attended funerals for people who died due to complications associated with COVID-19. I do not for one second take that lightly or disregard the pain of those who have experienced the effects of COVID directly. The purpose of this blog post is to challenge the unwarranted panic that has led to extreme reactions, many of which are detrimental to our society, causing more harm than even the virus itself.
Disease is a part of life. Pain is a part of life. And yes, even death is a part of life. What we do in the meantime determines if we are living or just existing. And right now, too many people are just existing due to an irrational, excessive, all-consuming fear of a virus.
If I manage to go a day without hearing anything about COVID-19 it must mean that I stayed at home all day without turning on the TV or looking at social media. I honestly can't stand it anymore - the noise of the COVID obsession. It's a constant, irritating buzz that drones on and on and on. The media is addicted to it: "What can we say about COVID-19 today that will cause the most fear, sound the most threatening, and leave an ominous cloud of anxiety over the heads of every American? How about this: EVERYONE IS GOING TO DIE!"
Yes, actually, everyone is going to die. Every last one of us. Most likely from heart disease or cancer or simply old age. Maybe from COVID. Probably not, but yeah, it's a possibility.
What I cannot understand is choosing to live in a state of panic over a virus that is deadly less than 2% of the time and is, for the majority of healthy people, like a cold or a case of the flu.
If you think about it, we participate in numerous activities a day that could potentially kill us. I drive my car to work. More than 38,000 people died in car crashes last year in the U.S. (nhtsa.gov). I often walk in my neighborhood. Almost 7,000 walkers were hit and killed by drivers in 2020 (nbcnews.com). I eat. Choking is #4 on the list of the six leading causes of unintentional injury-related deaths in 2019 (injuryfacts.nsc.org). And while we're at it, also on that list is poisoning, falls, drowning, and fire. So much to be afraid of!
Here's where someone cries, "Exactly! That's why you need to take precautions!"
Actually, I would describe myself as a cautious, conscientious person. I take necessary and appropriate precautions. For example, I wear my seat belt and drive the speed limit (well, close to it anyway). I walk on the correct side of the road and watch for cars. I exercise and watch my diet. I chew my food throughly. I try not to make a habit of crawling around in snake pits or darting in front of semis or jumping out of moving vehicles. But I'm also aware that even when I am careful, accidents are going to happen. Disappointments are going to happen. Illnesses are going to happen. That is life!
I simply cannot grasp why so many people have decided that COVID is the number one threat to society right now. I cannot understand why we have allowed our lives to be turned upside down by mandates and threats and fear tactics, why we have elevated our personal health to a godlike status to the detriment of everything else good and sensible in the world.
And sorry, I do not buy the notion that every directive presented to the American people has been "for our health and safety." What a tiresome phrase. Of course I want to be healthy and safe. Of course I want my friends and family to be healthy and safe. The problem I see is that health and safety have usurped everything else as society's Ultimate Goal. So many people are bowing down to the god of Health and Safety, offering sacrifices of freedom, choice, education, socialization, work, sanity...whatever it takes to appease this god so that he does not unleash the dreaded COVID demon upon them.
Here's the thing: COVID-19 is real, it is extremely transmissible, and it can be deadly. But what has happened in our country over the past two years is tragic: small businesses closing their doors forever, children missing months and months of school, jobs lost, nursing home residents having little to no contact with family. In my opinion, it is inaccurate to say that COVID is the cause for all of this. Rather, it is our reaction to COVID that has led to such devastating results.
The title of a March 2021 article from The New York Post states: "The data shows lockdowns end more lives than they save." The article points out that while there is no evidence that lockdowns reduce the death toll from COVID-19, deaths from other causes has risen. It gives the following reasons why:
"There was a sharp decline in visits to emergency rooms and in increase in fatal heart attacks because patients didn't receive prompt treatment. Many fewer people were screened for cancer. Social isolation contributed to excess deaths from dementia and Alzheimer's. Researchers predicted that the social and economic upheaval would lead to tens of thousands of 'deaths of despair' from drug overdoses, alcoholism and suicide. As unemployment surged and mental health and substance abuse treatment programs were interrupted, the reported levels of anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts increased dramatically, as did alcohol sales and fatal drug overdoses." (nypost.com)
COVID-19 has not caused these tragedies in our society, fear has.
My question is...is it worth it? Is it worth it to forego all social events because of a virus? Is it worth it to barricade yourself in your home like the angel of death is looming on your front porch? Is it worth it to cancel a musical that kids have been working on for months because "oh no, there's a new strain!?" Is it worth it to keep our children out of school for a year to "protect" them from a disease that, for most kids, is like having a cold? Is it worth it to cover your face with a piece of cloth that, unless it's heavy duty, doesn't even do anything besides make you breathe your own stale air over and over? Is it worth it to drive small businesses to failure? "We lost our jobs and can't pay our mortgage and now we are divorcing, but hey, at least we didn't get COVID!"
It's madness.
Look, I don't want to get sick. You don't want to get sick. But paranoia is not the answer. Fear is not the answer.
If I may approach this from a spiritual standpoint: the Bible teaches us that fear and anxiety are counterproductive for attaining peace, and for the Christian, ultimately unnecessary. Philippians 4:6-7 reminds us: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Furthermore, as followers of Christ, we know that death is not the end. Also in Philippians is the verse "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain" (1:21). Perhaps for someone who believes his existence ends when he takes his last breath, illness can be a very scary thing. But for us Christians, we know that once our walk with Jesus here on earth is done, we will live with him forever in paradise. If we walk in the truth of Colossians 3:2 - "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things" - things like sickness and even death become less consequential.
So here it is: COVID-19 is a reality and is most likely here to stay, along with every other disease, disappointment, and tragedy life has to offer. And as with everything, I've got choices for how I'm going to deal with it. I can choose to listen to unfounded hype and live in fear: wear the mask, take the 22nd booster, listen to incompetent doctors' "scientific" jargon (that will no doubt change next week), take a COVID test every time I cough, and go to Walmart at four in the morning to avoid the crowds. Or I can choose to seek out facts and subsequently, to enjoy the time I have here on earth: travel, go out with friends, go to church, a concert, a football game, a family reunion.
That sounds good to me.
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