Last summer the kids were invited to swim at a friend’s home. While we watched from the balcony, Thomas slipped into the deep end.
Thomas grabbed hold of Isaac, climbed up on him, and used him as his buoy. Isaac, meanwhile, was being drowned.
Because Thomas was soundlessly panicking and Isaac was underwater, none of the kids heard a sound to alert them. The few seconds it took me to get down to the pool felt like forever to Isaac. He sat, catching his breath and trying to let go of his terror.
If, during the car ride there, we had asked our five-year-old, “Thomas, if you feel afraid in the water, do you think you should push your brother underneath and hold him there?” he would have looked at us wide-eyed and thought we were joking. Yet Thomas’ fear led him to do something to his brother that he would otherwise never have done.
These past few months have been uncomfortable for most of us, dealing with the new “C” word. A day doesn’t go by without the usual people posting commentaries, scorning those who don’t follow their suggested regimen, and, to be blunt, turning healthy attitudes of common sense into fear.
Last week a member of my community posted that they had seen two cars that week with American licence plates.
Egad!
Then they posted a hotline number for good citizens to report possibly “suspicious” American licence plates.
I didn’t want to respond, but I really felt the need.
“There’s something in that that makes me uncomfortable. I’d rather not start spying and reporting my neighbour’s guests. Sounds like something out of an Orwell book. How quickly we become suspicious of people at the government’s behest.”
Most people agreed with my thoughts, but someone told me it was their duty to look out for unlawful activities … that I could stuff it, so to speak.
To this I replied that having an American licence plate was not unlawful and she had no reason to suspect anything, as far as I knew. There are many reasons for Americans to be here, or for Canadians to have American licence plates. I would let border guards do their jobs and instead keep an eye out for activists burning churches with people inside.
It bothers me that people can so easily be led into fear that has them spying on and reporting random cars “for the good of the people.” Don’t people know where that expression comes from? Haven’t they read Orwell, Robert Hugh Benson, or even just watched the Sound of Music? The guy spying on his neighbours – who aren’t doing anything wrong – for “the good of the people” is always working for communists, Nazis, or some other kind of tyrants.
Two priests have told me that people spied on them to “make sure” no one was on their grounds. One told me that his own parishioner, for the good of the people, set up a camera to record him and make sure he followed specific guidelines.
Meanwhile stores were open and serving the public without their interference.
I’m not sure why we are comfortable walking through Costco, Walmart, or Dollarama, or grabbing a coffee or burger at a drive-thru, while suspiciously questioning others for having a handful of close people over to celebrate the baptism of a new baby.
Much to the great chagrin of many good people, I am not in a panic over COVID, and I will not spy on others. I have some hand sanitizer in the car, and wipes for whatever needs to be wiped. I give people their space and wait at the end of the line to receive Holy Communion on the tongue. But I guess I’m not afraid enough, and that bothers some people.
However, I am afraid of things people are led to when they are afraid. Fear leads to defensiveness, to suspicion, to anger, and then it leads us to do things that we would otherwise never have done.
I am afraid of people taking “free,” mass-produced money they don’t need, from a prime minister who touts socialist ideas and “admires” the “basic dictatorship” of China. (Especially since this same China he admires recently demanded anyone receiving government assistance replace images of Christ in their homes with pictures of communist leaders. Homes will be inspected to ensure orders are followed.)
I’m afraid of people videoing priests before Mass and looking out between their curtains to check licence plates.
I’m afraid when more than one person from another country tells me how easily Canadians give away their freedom.
I’m afraid that our fear of getting sick, rather than sending us into the arms of our Father for comfort and peace, will lead us to suspicion, anger, and the inhumane treatment of each other … that we will let those we once cared about drown “for the good of the people.”
Then I recognize that my fear, like all fear, is something the devil can use to cause despair, steal away joy and hope, and lead us far from God. The Bible tells us more than 300 times not to be afraid. Not one sparrow drops to the ground without our Father knowing. How much more does he value us? How much more does he value you?
I invite you to join me in casting fear aside, in staying strong, staying healthy, loving our neighbour as ourselves for love of the Lord God who made us, and putting our trust in him.
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (2 Tim 1:7)
