We argue about the repercussions of vaccinations. Priority patients, lines, and controversy accompany the annual and routine flu shots. Countless books and movies focus on infections courtesy of monkeys, aliens, demons, and more. We’ve even upgraded bacteria to super bacteria as though it’s a villain in a Marvel movie. Thoughts of infections infect our very culture.
Fear is the actual contagion lurking inside these stories.
Panic spreads like a virus, but it requires no physical contact. Social media posts can be patient zero in a widespread outbreak.
Dread can incapacitate us more quickly than the most deadly fictional disease. Fight or flight becomes freeze as we do nothing to save ourselves.
Anxiety lurks in our hearts and rules our minds. It blurs our vision and twists our thoughts until we see only the shadows instead of the light.
Fear is what infects our society and there is no vaccination. However, that doesn’t mean we are doomed. We do not need to eradicate fear to win. We only need to decide something else is more important than the disease.
Perhaps justice mutes the impact of anxiety? Can truth triumph over trepidation? Maybe love frees us from the paralysis of dread? Will determination persevere through panic?
What are you afraid of…and what is more important that your fears?
Rennie St. James 
The only Thing we Have to Fear is Fear itSelf. -Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Every generation, it seems, we find something else to be afraid of. Sometimes it is something we should be wary of, and sometimes it’s all in our heads. What we need to focus on is researching for ourselves – and trusting people to draw their own conclusions. Trust and truth are probably one of the few things that can put fear to bed.
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YES – all good points! I particularly like the ‘trusting people to draw their own conclusions’ part. We try so hard to convince others of our own truth that we don’t listen to theirs. Listening should be part of our researching for ourselves. We should begin with doubt and be open to all possibilities. Truth can definitely ease our fears!
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