FEAR versus Fear in a Pandemic

And now for something completely different (in the words of legendary Monty Python):

Fear.

Or, I should say, FEAR.

Not only has COVID been shutting down the world, but the media are using it to launch a campaign of FEAR (all caps).

And FEAR (all caps) is what is different.

In my grandma’s day, fear (all lower caps) was the norm.  

Lower cap fear responds (as opposed to reacts) accordingly:

"Yes, we acknowledge there is a problem, crisis, tribulation."

"No we will not drop everything because of it. We will adapt without much ado."

And finally, 

"The Lord will take us to a better place if and when we don’t make it in this one" (and we all know it ends with when).

Sure, there were folks who succumbed to FEAR (all caps) back in grand-dad’s day. But it wasn’t the norm; the accepted and the expected, as it is, I believe, today.

FEAR is hyper, dramatic and worst case-focused. 

Fear, lower caps, is strength and integrity in spite of rational doubts and uneasiness. It is cautious, but not hysterical; considerate, not paranoid. 

FEAR is the becoming undone. 

Fear is holding it together through steady perseverance and non-theatrical adjusting.

And one of the most logical ways to keep it together and not be sucked in by the hype, is to post a “No Trespassing” sign for the media to cease their traipsing across the lawns of our lives with their Chicken Little reporting.

At my alma mater, the University of Wisconsin Madison, where I obtained a Journalism degree, we were taught to report the news objectively (all editorials were limited to one place in the newspaper, the Op-Ed page, and readers clearly knew that what appeared there was someone’s opinion). Objective reporting was the mandate, be it written or broadcast.

Dictionary.com defines objective as:

“not influenced by personal feelings, interpretations, or prejudice; based on facts; unbiased”

“belonging to the object of thought rather than to the thinking subject.”

The media has gradually jettisoned its credo of objectivity and we are seeing the dire consequences of that in the sheer panic it is injecting into society and people’s homes today.

I know that people are dying from COVID. They join all the other people who have died tragically in the past and who will continue to pass away in the future. Plagues, wars, disasters, cancer, and suicides by the hundreds and thousands and hundreds of thousands.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 1.35 million people are killed annually on roadways globally, which amounts to 3,700 traffic deaths each day.

Have we seen outrage and obsessive reporting from the Press in regard to people not wearing seatbelts? Have television commentators spit nails nightly over drunk drivers who kill--a public disaster that can be much more easily eradicated than this virus?

And would the viewers fall in right behind, up-in-arms over drunk drivers' lack of "concern for others"? 

The Centers for Disease Control also reports:

"While the impact of flu varies, it places a substantial burden on the health of people in the United States each year. CDC estimates that influenza has resulted in between 9 million – 45 million illnesses, between 140,000 – 810,000 hospitalizations and between 12,000 – 61,000 deaths annually since 2010.

During the 2017-2018 season, the percentage of deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza (P&I) was at or above the epidemic threshold for 16 consecutive weeks. During the past five seasons, the average number of weeks this indicator was above threshold was 11 (range of 7 to 15 weeks). Nationally, mortality attributed to P&I exceeded 10.0% for four consecutive weeks, peaking at 10.8% during the week ending January 20, 2018."

Note that 16 weeks at or above the epidemic threshold is about 4 months.


The World Health Organization states that:

“Cancer is the second leading cause of death globally, and is responsible for an estimated 9.6 million deaths in 2018. Globally, about 1 in 6 deaths is due to cancer.

Around one third of deaths from cancer are due to the 5 leading behavioral and dietary risks: high body mass index, low fruit and vegetable intake, lack of physical activity, tobacco use, and alcohol use."

According to Our World in Data, as of today, there have been 19 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, 11.5 million recoveries and 712,000 deaths.

Again, I clearly do not want to minimize or belittle this pandemic, just as I would never diminish the shattered lives from cancer, alcohol abuse, or car accidents.

It’s about putting this pandemic, which could blaze on or smolder for many more months, into perspective so that we don’t succumb to FEAR.

“For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.” Hebrews 2:1

The Bible frequently acknowledges the temptation to be cajoled away from our unwavering view of life in Christ to despair and finger-pointing. But Christ experienced suffering and death, overcoming it, so that he “might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives” (Hebrews 2:15).

Are we more afraid of dying from COVID, or even just experiencing it first-hand, than we are of cancer, dying in a car accident, or crossing the street? If the answer is yes, we need to ask ourselves why.

Could the answer be our feeding constantly on social and news media which has become the brew master of this virus, distilling it in our hearts and minds until we are drunk with delirium, in spite of the fact that there are many “worse things” still out there that could do us in but which we don’t allow to terrify us?

If we imbibe FEAR, there’s a good chance we will become FEARFUL (again, all caps).

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:21.

Many hearts are allowing social and mass media to beguile with the jewels of catastrophe, causing them to take their mind off of all that Christ has taught and carried us through.

To get, at minimum, back down to a healthy fear:

"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (Philippians 4:8).

We can still harbor a bit of fear, but it is de-stabilized and put into its proper place along with all of the qualities mentioned above.

The perfect love and guidance of God does not cast out death, or sickness, broken-heartedness, frustration, doubt, boredom or various grades of depression. It casts out all fear because there is no fear in His love (1 John 4:18).

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

Jesus has overcome all the bad stuff in the world, so that we may have His peace while we are yet in the bad stuff. 

Pandemics aren’t fun.

But under the shepherding of Him who has already overcome it, the pandemic is overcome in us, too.


Copyright Barb Harwood