The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

It was during the 1960’s I must have been only about six or seven years old.  The only thing that divided Windsor from Detroit was the Detroit River.

History tells us it was during the riots for civil rights.  I can remember seeing smoke coming from the streets of Detroit.  During that time people were rightly fearing that all the disruption would begin to seep into the streets of Windsor, Ontario.

Fast forward to the 1980’s, Ronald Reagan was President.  News coverage began talking about a new cancer, this was different than had ever been seen before.  The news media began to label it as, “the gay cancer”.  Today we call it AIDS!

Fear began to set in among gay communities from all across North America.  Preachers were banging their pulpits calling the epidemic God’s wrath on Gay people. Death was almost certain if a person was infected from the virus.  The virus attacks the immune system within the body.  As time goes by, reports begin to come across the news mediums about heterosexual women in the continent Africa also infected with AIDS.  People feared rightly if they were to be infected by this virus. 

Fear can work both ways, it can motivate, or it can halt, people.  Fear that motivates scientists to work to find a antidote for disease.  It can also cause a person to completely stop in their tracks fearful of moving forward, fearing the sunrise on the next day.

We have seen also SARS, Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV), now the world is dealing with a pandemic named Corona Virus.

Fear sometimes overrides logic, which we are seeing with the hoarding of toilet paper and paper towels.  If logic was in place a person would only buy for the amount they need for a stated length of time.

I realize people are fearful, it is just human nature.  I feel I can honestly say, the world will survive this pandemic.

So, for me each time I feel fear of this situation I will take and stretch with a deep breath!