PANIC is a Sudden Desertion of Us....

What do you fear?

"Panic is a sudden desertion of us, and a going over to the enemy of our imagination." ~Christian Nestell Bovee

The last several months have surfaced many fears of human kind. We can look back and recall several natural disasters and some not so natural that have caused a considerable amount of anxiety. Recent earthquakes, floods, fires, and tornadoes have ripped through different parts of the world and left us feeling a little helpless. Add the global economic crisis and you have a pot boiling over with some pretty stinky stew.

The latest blaze of paranoia to rip through humanity now comes with a snout and an oink & is attached to a sore throat and fever. 3M is making a killing on selling masks, as well as other medical supply companies. The media assures us there is no reason to have great or grave concern and yet they bombard us with live updates and break into regularly scheduled programming with up-to-the minute coverage.

Internet search engines line their borders with news briefs and photos of mask-wearing travelers or workers crossing the border at San Ysidro or the countless other Ports of Entry. Every day my children come home from school with reports that "so-and-so's" brother has swine flu or "what's-his-name's" dad is in Mexico and can't get home. While this is, indeed, scary because "we just don't know" and the media is even less helpful - Two different reports I heard on Wednesday: 159 deaths in Mexico versus 7 deaths, what's up with that? There is a big difference between these two reports and, unfortunately, we are only too happy to accept the sensationalized side of news and run to the local drug store to buy out hand sanitizer.

Swine Flu- "You cannot get it from eating pork, but the pigs themselves, are living Petri dishes because of their living conditions," reported by Yahoo yesterday, "The swine in both Mexico and the U.S. are not getting sick." And yet Egypt has moved forward with the slaughter of over 300,000 pigs, are you kidding me?

How do we, as smart people, allow this to happen? How do we become trapped in paranoia and permit it to take over? The state of the economy, the 5.1M jobs lost since 2008, and a current U.S. unemployment rate of 8.5% spells disaster any way you slice it but recent reports of continued and increased hiring is cause for some slight celebration, right? How do we take this good news combined the bad news we keep getting every hour on the hour and make our own worlds tolerable? I am typically not one that is easily pulled in by dread but it does seemed difficult to avoid the panic tractor beam that is increasingly magnetic.

I am reaching out to you, as my Co-Hort, for answers and advice. Short of shooting the bird that sings all night, how can we cope, adjust, and make it work on our own project runways? Share ideas and advice. My mother always told me to distinguish your wants from your needs. Well..., we are wanting and we are needing a gi-normous pill of valium right now cause mother's little helper isn't cutting it. "A chemical reaction, you might say..."

Life has a funny way of shaking you up and defining who you are. Cut of cloth, work ethic, the golden thread, a beam of light, a hand reaching down, an introspection of sorts.
What is your definition?

"Look at misfortune the same way you look at success - Don't Panic! Do your best and forget the consequences." ~Walt Alston

by rayannethorn

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Steve Levy on April 30, 2009 at 3:21am

We are a world of predominantly blind followers Rayanne, spectators on the highway of life. The same people who slow down to view the carnage at highway accidents are the same who read the National Enquirer are the same who trust governments to make the right decisions 100% of the time are the same who believe "we put the lemon in the Tidy Bowl for you."

What would the media do without the swine flu? Report of Lindsey Lohan's whereabouts?

Use your brain people - thinking does not cause mind pollution!

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Permalink Reply by Steve Levy on April 30, 2009 at 3:32am

Of course then again there are people who can make a silk purse out of a sow's ear ;)

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Permalink Reply by See_Jane_Recruit on April 30, 2009 at 4:49pm

My solution: turn of the news. Turn of the Twitter (Oh My God! What? No!) Turn off CNN and their up-to-the-minute news reporting on a constant loop. Stop believing everything you read. Pick up the damn phone and get to work.

If you follow the news you will go crazy trying to figure out what the hell is going on and could easily become paralyzed with fear, too afraid to keep moving on. Life is what you make of it. I believe destiny is in our own hands. You can't be the person to wait for things to come along, you have to be the person to make things happen.

The world is well-equipped to handle this Swine Flu epidemic. Panic is a tool the government and media use to make you dependent on them. There is such a thing as overexposure and too much information.

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Permalink Reply by See_Jane_Recruit on May 1, 2009 at 10:53am

Yeah, let's not kid ourselves. The government and media are in the business of making money. Ratings, dependency, bail outs--they're a bunch of shady narcotics dealers, loan sharks and pimps. What's that Warren Zevon lyric? "Send Lawyers, Guns, and Money. The shit has hit the fan." Lol.

Think about this: retail is the worst it's ever been, 3M is having money problems and making lay-offs, GSK is making big lay-offs and a merger is looming (that spells trouble)--then an airborne swine flu hits the US and 3M is making a killing of of masks and GSK if churning out flu vaccine. Coincidence?

Rayanne said:

This just in: We are changing the name from Swine Flu to H1N1 Influenza A...

Again, are you kidding me? Nope.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/un_who_swine_flu

The government and media need to be more responsible, hands down.

**Forget the MLTs..., Maybe the farmers can sell BLTs to the Christians in Egypt for the next several years, as long as they cure the bacon right... ;-)