I was once told that every era – or historical period, if you prefer – happens to be one of two: reasoning, or emotion. This was either back in 2006 or 2007. The person explaining, quite reasonable, said that it was always swinging back and forth between the two, and that we currently were graduating towards emotion after being within reason for some time. What I recall was that I, at the time, was quite excited about this as I at the time, imagining an upcoming era of positivity and various ways of expressing joy.
Ah, that sweet summer child – neglecting (or perhaps not willing to subconsciously accept) negative emotions being part of this equation. As such, I have come to realize that if one would look back at this period of time, one emotion above others should be the defining one: Fear.
Fear.
Let that take a moment to sink in.
The past few years may have laid the foundations of it, but seldom has a specific moment – to my experience, at least – as these few past years. Oh, we’ve had our fair share coming up to this point:
- 9/11; fear of terror.
- Global warming; fear of planetary destruction and our own.
- Political; fear of the far right/left, depending on what side you favor.
And now, the biggest and current one:
- Covid; fear of infection, contamination, sickness and death.
Fear.
I find one quote to sum it up quite nicely:
“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” H. P. Lovecraft.
What strikes me as morbidly funny is that nuclear destruction isn’t on my list. Perhaps it is on yours, but to me, that is something the generation prior to my own was more concerned with rather than the current day. However, taking that into the account, fear may have been seeping it’s insidious tentacles far slower than what I initially considered.
Fear.
How to combat it? For me, it is trying to stay positive and spread a little joy whenever you have the capacity to do so. After all, who can forget a bunch of crucified folk next to one another singing Always Look On the Bright Side of Life? As for being afraid of the unknown, the strange, what you do not understand? Educate yourself.
So, if I can make a request, dear reader, it is to try to make the best out of a bad situation. I know I’m trying, and despite not always succeeding, an attempt counts for something.
Even if Pandora may have opened the box, one thing still yet reside inside.
Hope.
