Fear As Epidemic
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Weighing in on the recent information and misinformation about the coronavirus scare, I’d like to offer a poem I wrote a few years ago about the subject of fear.

I call it “Fear As Epidemic,” to drive home the point that fear is sometimes worse than the thing that we are most afraid of!

H. P. Lovecraft commented that the oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is the fear of the unknown!

Actually, we do not fear the unknown, but, in fact, we fear what we think we know about the unknown! “Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is,” to quote a German proverb.

Indeed, everything is unknown, and fear is an illusion. It doesn’t exist unless we create it! It’s all in our minds!

Defining moments of change occur to us when we choose to know our fear. Knowledge is power, remember??!!!

Now is the time to understand more, and to educate ourselves from reliable scientific sources. The unknown is a sea of possibilities. Explore them and learn!

I’ll leave you with two thoughts… ultimately, the other side of fear is freedom… and… courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it!.

 

FEAR AS EPIDEMIC

The epidemic of fear is the most contagious of all.
You can catch it over the phone; you can catch it in the mall.
I’ve even seen people with normally good sense
Catch it while talking to a neighbor over the fence.

From newspapers, from TV, there’s no end to the sources.
The fear epidemics run all kinds of courses:
On one end, negative thinking; the other end, bravado --
It manifests in crazy ways, making one a desperado!

Like other viruses, fear can bring a soldier to his grave.
A business man, a housewife, too, can soon begin to rave.
A sports nut, a nurse, a cop -- no matter the occupation --
All are subject to the results of fear and it's contamination.

Fact one is that when fear abounds the immune system is suppressed.
Blood pressure rises, the body is tense; the fatigue will make you depressed.
Over time, results are infections and cardiovascular abnormality.
Muscles can degenerate and one loses needed vitality.

Of course, the result is death, but then that’s one of the inevitabilities.
It’s just that worry and fear increase the vulnerabilities.
The biggest loss is quality of life while one is still walking around.
Fear paralyzes and stems the courage; one’s hopes are dashed to the ground.

The stronger the fear, the less inclined the person is to grow --
To start long-term projects, a career, a relationship -- with heart all aglow.
Life’s less fulfilling and less fun when fear takes hold of your soul.
It’s a miserable way to live, when fear takes pieces from the whole.

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Kathryn
Love
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There’s more than a little confusion about who St Valentine really was… in fact, there’s the possibility that more than one St. Valentine (Valentinus) actually lived, at different times in history.

It is claimed by some that the celebration of Valentine’s Day may have evolved from an attempt by the Christian Church to “Christianize” the Pagan celebration of Lupercalia — a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture.

Much later, during the Middle Ages, it was commonly believed in France and England that February 14 was the beginning of birds’ mating season, which further enhanced the idea that Valentine’s Day should be a day for romance.

Though Valentine greetings were popular in the Middle Ages, written valentines didn’t begin to appear until after the year 1400. The oldest valentine still in existence in the British library in London, was a poem written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt.

We send and receive Valentine’s Day cards to celebrate love.

Here is my Poem of the Month on the subject.

 

LOVE

It’s easy to believe there’s only one kind of love,
But in reading, you’ll find there are many;
All named by the Greeks, their subtleties explained,
And repeated, repeated in litany.

The many types all come back to the beginning;
Love doesn’t exist in a plurality.
The various descriptions are just manifestations
Of love, a single reality.

To lose yourself in another’s arms
Or in another’s company…
Or to lose yourself in suffering for
All victims, and there are many…

To lose yourself in any of the ways,
Some of which are described above
Is the only way to find yourself.
And the word for it is “love.”

Of all the powers love carries the most clout;
It has no counterpart.
Love alone can conquer the final bastion;
It can win the human heart.

But also it can be as powerless as a kitten.
By itself it remains impotent.
It needs direction and gentle prodding.
It can do nothing except by consent.

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Kathryn
Start From Where You Are
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Ahhhh, January….

… that time of year when all the excitement of the holidays has come and gone, when the weather starts getting serious, and when we have the time to concentrate on….. yes, ourselves. Maybe we indulged a little to enthusiastically at the Holiday Tables… maybe we really do need to lose a pound or two… or get into the rhythm of a regular exercise program… or get after that store room that holds the box of photographs that Aunt Maggie left in our “capable hands.”

So, that becomes our New Year’s Resolution and we, each year, are bound and determined to stick to it, come hell or high water… We demand of ourselves an immediate success and when that success is elusive????? Well, the “hell and high water” win once again.

One problem is that we think we have to drastically change our habits in order to succeed at whatever promise we made to ourselves to be “better,” when in fact, we can only “Start From Where [We] Are.” By making small strides, reaping small successes, we organically and naturally flow into the habits that bring the success we so desperately wanted, but gave up on when the success was not immediate.

Remember, “time takes time…” and really, you can only “Start From Where You Are.”

 

START FROM WHERE YOU ARE

“Of course, you say, most incredulously,
“Where else would one start from, anyway?”
You’d be surprised at the amount of time
People wait for conditions to be okay
Before springing into action on the rest of their lives;
Before starting on the road to make things happen.
Don’t wait until you think conditions are perfect.
The opportunity to move on doesn’t come that often.

Start where you are and use what you have.
You’ll gain more as you continue to move.
If you stand still, the world will pass you by,
But as you progress, conditions will improve.

Motion is where your ideas will come from.
You’re your own rhythm section as you continue your way.
Your dance of life will move effortlessly
As you pursue your endeavors with an attitude of play.

Explore and thrive, always challenging yourself
To greater and higher participation as you grow.
Don’t sit idly by, watching the world whirl past.
Be alert. Join the dance. Be the flow.

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Sonya Kopetz