Writing about fear. Writing to provoke a discussion. Afraid of the widely heralded economic future?
I'm not worried at all. It's strange. Cannot explain my indifference. I'm not wealthy, have no savings, no big assets. But I'm not worried. Not at all. Don't care. Not a fatalist either.
I think of harried couples wondering how they will feed their children when the pink slips come, of how economic misery is multiplied millionfold through domestic lives we cannot imagine. That pain seems tangible. The inferred fear. The inferred pain. College grads who return home to stay. Pinchpenny doldrums of the lonely. The inferred arguments, door slamming, tears. Bums scrounging through restaurant garbage bins before the hired help come to bleach it down. The real economic downturn maybe. That seems real.
Similarly, was on a long jet trip and encountered a huge amount of chop. Bounce-a-rama. Naturally thought of plunging to my death. Seemed like a bad thing. Then I looked around the cabin and saw all kinds of people ... young girls, children, whole families ... all of us on the same jet. If people like that were going to die, I thought, my death would hardly be significant. And the fear vanished with the recognition of my unimportance.
Perhaps to discuss fear requires more honesty (or disclosure) than the list can sustain. We are a debating and discovery society after all. Here's my point about why your point is wrong. Here's a bright and shining thing. Behold my silence. Behold my ideals.
Anyone else having trouble buying into the fear fad? ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
