Posted on by Californiacontrarian

Fear . . . Death/Life


Egyptian Nobel Prize winner Naguib Mahfouz succinctly said, “Fear doesn’t prevent death. It prevents life.”

I find this quote interesting in these times of Covid lockdowns.

I find it somewhat bizarre how differently different people react to lockdowns. Within reason, I think that just about all individuals are doing their best. However it amazes me what some individuals will do . . . in the name of ?? Certain individuals just seem adverse to resuming certain basic interactions. It that because of fear? Are they afraid of dying?

One of our friends (and her husband) hasn’t seen three of her grandkids in over a year, as they live around a thousand miles away. No way will she fly to see them . . . too dangerous. No way will she drive to see them, even though that used to happen about twice a year, because she would have to stay in motels for a couple of nights while driving the thousand miles, and again a couple of nights driving back . . . too dangerous. Recently the son-in-law and these same three grandkids were going to be much closer, but she wouldn’t make the three hour drive to see them . . . something to do with the necessity of quarantining. From my way of thinking, here “fear is preventing life.” (As an aside to this friend – “you aren’t getting any younger!”)

Another friend has two children locally, a son and a daughter. Each with two kids, and so four grandkids within a few miles. The son says that his mother (grandma) cannot visit his house unless she quarantines for two weeks after visiting anybody including her daughter, his sister. As an expected consequence our friend has visited the daughter’s house much more than the son’s house. Again from my perspective, here “fear is preventing life.” (As an aside to the son – “your mother isn’t getting any younger!”)

I saw seven of my grandkids over Christmas, and six over Thanksgiving . . . two of them I saw on both occasions. I do not want to die anytime soon, but I am not going to let fear prevent life.

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