The rift in response to Covid…and why some of us aren’t worried…no matter what.

This “pandemic” and the world’s response to Covid-19 has been one of the greatest sociological experiments ever created and has been put on display for everyone to see across all social media channels.  

The good, the bad and the ugly have been posted for the world to see and shared all over everyone’s feeds.  It’s been both fascinating and terrifying to watch.  

It’s been inspiring, infuriating, uplifting, and depressing to watch…and that’s just the posts before breakfast!

I haven’t lived nearly as long as others, but this is the most divisive event I’ve ever experienced.  

What has been really interesting is the amount of different responses that don’t follow a typical political, religious, or philosophical line.  

Women disagreeing with other women…

Christians disagreeing and fighting with christians…

Atheists fighting with atheists…

Natural minded friends fighting against the people they used to agree with when it came to health and healthcare…

Homosexual, straight, bisexual….this pandemic has shattered all party lines and created a mosh pit of sorts of people who ordinarily would never agree being on the same team and others who are normally of one mind becoming mortal enemies….

But why??  What is it that really has separated people??  

I think we can all agree that the key ingredient that has parted the waters during this time has been our favorite four letter word:

FEAR

This event has played on (and the main stream media) the fears of every single person in a different way.  There have been very few people who have not had something the worry about or fear during this time.  

Whether it be fear of the virus, 
Loss of freedoms, 
Loss of jobs/income,
conspiracy theories (government collapse, overthrow, aliens, sinister plots)
forced vaccinations…
Or maybe fear of opening everything back up and going back to normal??  

No matter what it is, everyone has a trigger that has been hit by something or someone during this ordeal more than almost anything else I have every experienced.  

Think back to 9/11. 

We were savagely attacked (spare me all the conspiracies for a second) and everyone was afraid and then (at least for awhile) this country came together and woke up like a giant on a mission…

There has been almost zero “coming together” during all of this because no one really agrees about what should be done or should be happening!  

One thing that has been very interesting to observe is a smaller group of people that even though they may have some concerns and are still being affected by the current state of our country/world….they(I) aren’t really afraid of what’s going on or what will happen.  

I’ll call this group the Veterans.  

Some of them are the military veterans I am good friends with.  When “shelter in place” orders started rolling out and people started crying out about losing their freedoms and government over-reach one of my veteran friends goes, 

“What’s the matter?  All you people act like this is the first time the government has messed up your plans?!?  We are used to this!”  

He laughed but I realized that the people who are rolling with the punches on this and doing what needs to be done without fear are the people who have walked through major crap and disappointment in their life and have walked or are walking it out.  

After losing my son and shattering my femur and having repeated tumors in my leg….I don’t really get that stressed out about the day to day….you know?  

I mean, I don’t agree with so much of what is going on and I don’t like most of it….but it could be worse.  Burying my son?  That was way worse that being told I have to wear a mask or that I can’t go somewhere to eat.  Do I like it or agree with it?  Absolutely not…. 

But it’s not wrecking my world either.  

Many of the people I know that are responding the same way have a couple things in common:

1. They’ve been through struggle and hard days before….this is not new

2. They know that things will change…maybe not way better, but it will change

3. They know what they believe and are solid in that belief

4. They function out of information and logic and NOT FEAR.

The common thread has been watching and talking to my friends who can calmly and LOGICALLY think through all that is going on and form an opinion about it and discuss that opinion.  Fear throws a wrench into the window of your false beliefs and shatters what you thought was true and it’s really hard to put all those pieces back together when you are shaking from fear.  

Lots of people are fighting this battle right now.  And the only answer is to find your footing and STAND UP.  It’s like getting knocked over by a big wave in the ocean.  The tumbling and disorienting feeling is what fear is doing to your thoughts and the thing you HAVE to do is find your footing and STAND UP.  

Doesn’t mean you won’t get hit by another wave…actually the bible promises plenty of “trouble” and waves are coming.  The key is how good your footing is and knowing how to lean into the wave and STAND.  

If this is overwhelming you right now…find someone who has been through some hard stuff in their life and ask them for their insight….you’ll be surprised what you learn.  

Struggle is a part of life….but FEAR is the enemy of logic.  

Dr. JB