As someone who is reasonably prolific when it comes to writing, I think that it is obvious that I wrangle many many words. Almost every single thing that I write goes through at least some basic kind of editing process; including the deleting and adding of words during the construction of sentences. I probably do not have the power to change the world but I do have the power to change at least a little tiny bit of it... and so do you.
Although this might sound trite, I believe that if you set aside the physical and spiritual things that make up, govern, and animate the universe, then so much of our experience and expectation about how the world operates, is made up of stories.
Big media companies get to write loads of stories; politicians and scientists get to write loads of stories; advertising companies write stories in order to get you to buy stuff, but how often do you think about the stories that you write and the stories which other people around you are prepared to listen to?
Think about your stories.
The world has gone into a flapdoodle over the COVID-19 virus. It is reasonable for the world to be concerned about a public health concern, as though it were an unseen enemy, especially when it has killed people and we don't really understand how this will affect the world. It is reasonable to be reasonably concerned.
However, it is also true that as a reaction to this, some people have panicked and raided the supermarkets; as most obviously demonstrated by the empty shelves where toilet paper, pasta, and canned goods once stood. Have they acted reasonably? In their minds, yes.
If I may ask you to wrangle some words for a bit, can I get you to stop using words like 'pandemonium', 'chaos', 'insane', and even 'panic'? I know that this might sound like a really small and insignificant thing to ask but if the world is made up of stories, then it is worth taking at least one second to consider how the stories that you are telling are affecting other people.
I was standing on Platform 3 of Wynyard Station earlier in the week and there was a chap in a business suit who was having quite an energetic conversation with someone about how 'crazy' it was down here. I have been in the exact same spot before and sometimes in evenings where there are so many people that the station staff have to limit the number of people getting to the platforms but over the last few days, there have been so few people anywhere that you could set up a lounge chair and television on the platform and there'd still be loads of space. It was far from 'crazy'. It was so far from 'crazy'that I was standing maybe 15 feet away from this chap and still overheard his end of the conversation.
What is that doing to the person at the other end of the phone line?
Whoever that person is, is still saturated in the same kind of general information ocean as the rest of us and they will have had the impression that what was happening down at Wynyard Station was 'crazy' when it clearly wasn't.
One of the unfortunate things about being a human is that we can only ever see the world through our own eyes. Behind our eyes, every single one of us is cosmically alone. While that does imply that we can choose to internally change our opinions and feelings about things, those opinions and feelings are still very much influenced by the stories which we collect, which are told to us, and which we tell ourselves.
What happens to those internal stories if what we are getting from the outside, are waves of perceived 'pandemonium', 'chaos', 'insanity', and 'panic'? What happens if those stories which we collect aren't actually true?
I don't mean to suggest that taking reasonable steps to achieve reasonable outcomes is not reasonable. I don't even want to underplay a threat which I confess that I don't really understand. Keep on taking reasonable actions but do it reasonably.
In these days of anxiety and panic and when we are actively told to isolate ourselves from each other, it is very easy to feel frightened. It is rational to be fearful of a virus when the outcome is unknowable and which contains the possibility of death. It is rational to be fearful of an unknown and unseen enemy. Therein lies the problem. As fear is an emotion induced by perceived danger or threat, it is entirely rational because fear itself is an inbuilt protection device. That isn't to say that fear is not reasonable because as an internal protection device, it is perfectly reasonable to have a fear of things that might kill you. A fear of snakes, a fear of drowning, a fear of God, a fear of war, and a fear of disease, are all reasonable fears to have provided that those fears then lead to to some rational action - don't handle snakes and leave them be, don't dive into water that you can't swim in, get your life in order before you meet your maker, be vigilant in case you are called to serve your country in some way, take rational steps do that you don't get the disease or pass it on.
However, you don't need to add to someone else's collection of fears by telling them stories which only serve to heighten those fears. The fact that I haven't seen a toilet roll out in the real world for a while is testament to the multiplication of everyone's fears but individually, those fears might have been rational at the time with the available stories.
Think about your stories. Think about the stories that you tell other people. Think about the stories that you are placing into their heads.
"Other people’s views and troubles can be contagious. Don’t sabotage yourself by unwittingly adopting negative, unproductive attitudes through your associations with others."
- Epictetus
"We are often more frightened than hurt; and we suffer more in the imagination than reality."
- Seneca
"An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up."
- Proverb
"Peace is what I leave with you; it is my own peace that I give you. I do not give it as the world does. Do not be worried and upset; do not be afraid."
- Jesus
Be careful of what stories you consume during the virus outbreak. Also be careful about stories you place into the minds of other people. You might not be able to control the world but you do have the power to change at least a little tiny bit of it.
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