{"id":1616,"date":"2020-05-11T09:28:38","date_gmt":"2020-05-11T16:28:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=1616"},"modified":"2020-05-11T09:28:40","modified_gmt":"2020-05-11T16:28:40","slug":"day-58-fear-itself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=1616","title":{"rendered":"Day 58 — Fear Itself"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When we see photos of people crowded<\/a> into a Castle Rock, Colorado, restaurant on Mother\u2019s Day, defying not only a state order that bans in-restaurant dining, but also the common-sense behavior a pandemic demands, we are seeing how difficult it is to be comfortable with fear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Setting aside politics<\/strong> \u2013 if that is possible these days when patriotism is defined by carrying a rocket launcher into a sandwich shop \u2013 those queuing up at C&C Coffee and Kitchen claim they want to get back to normal life, that they\u2019ve suffered and given up enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adverse circumstances,<\/strong> be they medical, financial or social, force us to abandon our routines and we become uncomfortable, anxious and fearful. We wonder when it \u2013 the disease, the recession, the social change \u2013 will end and we can return to how we were before. It was not perfect (it never is), but it was familiar, it was comfortable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uncertainty produces fear. <\/strong>Just ask any stock trader or someone awaiting the results of a biopsy. Nobody likes being afraid. No one save the admirable ilk who jump out of airplanes with chutes attached to their backs and similar risk-loving souls, willingly chooses fear over comfort. There are times, though, when fear is the only wise choice. This is one of them. Fear keeps us apart, so we don\u2019t infect one another or our families. Fear makes us respect the social guidelines because unless we do the pandemic will persist, and normalcy will be further postponed. Fear teaches us to avoid doing what is dangerous (don\u2019t touch the hot stove; don\u2019t be around someone who is coughing.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fear is exhausting, though. <\/strong>It wears you down. To withstand it, whether it\u2019s for a few seconds before you point the kayak into the whitewater or for several months while giving up haircuts, cappuccinos and a suntan, requires two things: discipline and a leap of faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first is obvious:<\/strong> Being afraid is not easy. It\u2019s not for sissies (as my mother, God love her, uses to say about getting older). Living with fear does not demand the iron discipline of a Seal Team member (although if you\u2019ve got that, go with it), but more of the slushy stubbornness of the guy who runs a marathon and comes in last. It ain\u2019t pretty, but it works, and it gets you to the finish line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most Americans suck at discipline<\/strong> or even at being stubborn. That want what they want an they want it now \u2013 one-hour delivery, Instapot, medical miracles, the right to carry weapons of war while ordering a Chicken & Bacon Ranch Melt at Subway. As a nation, we are fat<\/a> (42 percent prevalence of obesity), illiterate<\/a> (27 percent haven\u2019t a book in the past year), and stupefied<\/a> (nearly one in four adults struggle with substance use \u2013 booze or drugs). This is not the army I want to go to war with. No wonder that eight weeks into a pandemic that has infected more than 1 million of Americans and killed 80,000 \u2013 with tens of thousands more to come \u2013 so many Americans have battle fatigue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fear,<\/strong> the fear of never being \u201cnormal\u201d again, is winning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even more than discipline <\/strong>(iron or slushy), fighting fear requires a leap of faith. It amazes me that so many conservatives who root their political leanings in the parables of the bible seem incapable of applying the faith they have in an ephemeral kingdom located on the far side of universe populated by toga-wearing men with wings to the idea that fighting fear requires us to believe we will succeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The skier tips her toes <\/strong>over the cornice believing she will arrive at the bottom of the run in one piece. The skydiver steps into the air believing the chute will open. The young couple in love marry believing their lives will be long and peaceful. The writer fills the page believing the book will come. On and on and on. All of human life and endeavor, from the quotidian to the audacious, depends on overcoming uncertainty, in believing in a favorable outcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, here we are, <\/strong>in a nation infected by two diseases: a microbial invader that propagates by our carelessness, and an intolerance of uncertainty, discomfort and inconvenience nourished and encouraged by the most childly selfish man to ever occupy the Oval Office. Ironically, a good portion of the American population is more afraid of the latter than the former. Fear doesn\u2019t kill you. Covid-19 does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We all know FDR\u2019s line,<\/strong> delivered in 1933 in his first inaugural speech<\/a> and addressed to a nation that was four years \u2013 not eight weeks! \u2013 into a depression that was devastating not just families but entire regions of the county. \u201cLet me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself,\u201d he said \u2013 and that is the most quoted line, but he continued: \u201c\u2014nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These words remind us<\/strong> that the battle against fear requires one more thing beyond discipline and faith \u2013 leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn every dark hour<\/strong> of our national life,\u201d Roosevelt said, \u201ca leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Absent that leadership<\/strong> \u2013 and, sadly, the nation is \u2013 we, we the people, need to hold our ground, dig in, have faith in ourselves and get comfortable with the fear. Don\u2019t run. Stare it down. Laugh at it. When confronted, fear loses potency. It retreats. You want your normal life back, then first get control of your fear. Don\u2019t give it the power to make you stupid, to do things that could kill you or your family. That\u2019s something that should really scare you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When we see photos of people crowded into a Castle Rock, Colorado, restaurant on Mother\u2019s Day, defying not only a state order that bans in-restaurant dining, but also the common-sense behavior a pandemic demands, we are seeing how difficult it … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[723,759,744],"class_list":["post-1616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal","tag-covid-19","tag-fear","tag-quarantine"],"yoast_head":"\nDay 58 - Fear Itself - Tim Porter's Second Draft<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=1616\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Day 58 - 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