We have ‘nothing to fear, but fear itself’, a phrase from the 1933 inaugural address of Franklin D. Roosevelt. It is apt in what we witness today with the Corona Virus. I don’t wish to waste our time in regurgitating what you and I have read, heard and experienced over the past few weeks. People around the country have become overnight experts on a virus that even defies the most intelligent medical professionals around the world. Think about it, lay people have gone totally mad on social media, in their networks, in the news media and the 24/7 TV channels to list but a few. And what have the masses achieved by their collective madness? Panic.
Panic in their behaviour. Panic in their shopping habits. Panic in their attitude to others. Panic in their capacity to think logically.
The fear of the Corona Virus and its impact has driven even the sanest of us into panic mode. Shelves in our shops are empty. People are buying as if the end of the world is coming and only those with years of stock will be able to survive. I personally witnessed more than a thousand people queuing outside Costco, an hour before it was due to open! What were they all thinking? How much can you buy? How much can you hoard away? And once you have done all of that, what next?
It is natural to have some fear. It is normal to be afraid of the unknown. However, in our panic and fear, have we moved to a stage of fear being our real enemy? Corona is a medical condition and in time our experts will find a solution. In the meantime, all we have to do is follow some very simple basic rules of daily hygiene, and we can help diminish its spread and impact. If we the majority of the healthy human population do our bit properly, then we will give our health system a chance to help the people who are really vulnerable and need that support. Our panic and fear have the potential to take away scarce resource from these very people. Our parents, grandparents, the ill and the weak who really need support will suffer because the resources that should be targeted on them have had to be allocated to the rest of us. Is it not time that we all did our bit as well?
It's time to stop this madness. Stop this obsessive panic buying and hoarding. Time we took the necessary action to limit the spread of this virus. Time we restore our humanity. It’s time to end the fear of fear itself.
