What We Should And Shouldn’t Worry About?
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Today I continued my efforts to make our backyard garden something my wife may enjoy by watching the hummingbirds and bees visit the petty flowers.
While I worked, Henry, my loyal canine companion, would sniff at the manure. Because who doesn’t want to smell something that has the fresh aroma of a fart?
Occasionally, Henry also would bark furiously at the neighbor’s cat that sometimes would brazenly show itself on top of our fence.
As I tried to hush and reassure Henry the cat meant him no harm I wondered; “Why don’t I react to a cat as he does?” Is his barking an instinctual or learned response?
Do we humans also have instinctive fear responses to territorial invaders?
Why don’t I freak out every time an evangelist comes to our front door to annoy us with their beliefs?
Should I train Henry to bark at them and not the cats? Because the cats can’t hurt him.
Fortunately, we now live in a time where most of the answers to life’s little questions are just a few keystrokes away.
Researching the Internet tells me dog’s barking at cats is instinctive, but they can be trained or raised to ignore them. ¹
Likewise, humans have an innate fear of snakes, spiders, rats and mice. And like dogs we can be trained to overcome these fears. ²
Just don’t give a child a pet rattlesnake or black widow spider so they can overcome their innate fear of snakes and spiders.
Now that I’ve answered one of life’s little questions. What I really want to discuss is a related big question; “What should we fear and what shouldn’t we fear?”
Before I start attempting to answer this question, I need to clarify that the fear I am talking about is not the emotion of fear.
I’m not asking what we should be afraid of. Emotional fear is mostly a protective instinctive response to what we perceive as danger. ³
It’s ok to shriek and run around the room in like a crazy lady when you discover a giant tarantula on the nightstand of your vacation cottage. Which is what my wife did during our Costa Rica vacation.
Picture of said tarantula is at the top of the article.
What I really am trying to ask about is, “What should we worry about and what shouldn’t we worry about?”
Obviously, we all should be worried about stuff that may kill or possibly seriously harm us. ⁴
Currently, there is a global pandemic and we all should be worried about how to protect ourselves from Covid-19.
Until there is a vaccine, please stay safe, wear a face mask in public and wash your hands frequently and maintain social distancing.
What shouldn’t we be worried about? Well, obviously, all the stuff that doesn’t threaten to kill or seriously harm us.
For most of us, the world isn’t really trying to harm us.
So, stop worrying and be happy.
Now if only I could convince my wife to stop worrying about work. Work deadlines are not out to get her. But she continues to say they are killing her.
If you would like more of my occasionally funny answers to life’s questions please feel free to leave a comment like “My greatest worry is ……” and together we will learn and grow through our shared experiences.
¹ Cat–dog relationship Wikipedia
² Facing the Two Types of Fears
³ Fear Wikipedia
⁴ My wife sometimes calls me Captain Obvious because I often state the obvious as if were a surprising fact. For similar reasons, I also am known as General Amnesia and Corporal Head-Up-My-Ass.
© David Speakman 2020
