Not Afraid to be Afraid

There’s an old bar joke that goes as follows:

A piece of string walks into a bar. The Bartender says, ”We don’t serve your kind here.”

The string walks outside, rolls in the dirt, gets all tied up and walks back into the bar.

“I told you we don’t serve string here. Aren’t you a piece of string?”

“Nope,” the string answered, “I’m a frayed knot!”

Many of us feel a little raveled at the edges right now. All of our routines are out the window and the simple tasks of everyday life are suddenly fraught with difficulty. A trip to the local Food Lion requires decision after decision. Do I wear a mask? What is the least crowded time to go? Will they even have bread or lettuce or canned tuna? What if someone coughs near me?

Let’s face facts. We are afraid. No one wants to admit it and we call it caution or “being safe” but the fear is there.

And it feels silly to be afraid. The house is the same. We get up and have meals and get dressed just as always. Television and the internet work just fine. Outside, spring is showing up in outrageous colors and the birds are singing. The world looks so normal and safe.

Everything seems the same but everything has changed. Some friends invited me to play golf this week. I would love to play but here I am, male, over 70, and with some past health issues.

On one hand, It would be so good to be out in the warm sunshine getting some exercise. On the other, I could come in contact with a virus that could ravage my health and the health of my family. OK, the odds are a hundred to one against me getting infected playing golf.

Someone posted a fine example of why I refused. Here are 100 jellybeans, only one is poisoned. Here, have one. Nope! No thanks!

I can wait a week or two to play golf. I can raid the pantry more and shop less. I can sit on the porch instead of sitting on a beach. I can strain the limits of my Netflix selections or visit Mayberry one more time in hopes that Ernest T Bass will make an appearance. I can wait for the tilted world to begin to right itself.

The fear comes and goes, as Cheryl reminded me this morning. We should listen to its voice as we make decisions about making our forays to the pharmacy or grocery but we must temper it with reason. Make the good decisions. Enjoy a little time in the sunshine.

Remember, this too shall pass.