Instrument-4-Christ

Toilet Paper Usage 211 days.

TWO HUNDRED ELEVEN DAYS.

Under normal circumstances, that’s how long the current supply of toilet paper will last at my house.

A new study I conducted last night on https://howmuchtoiletpaper.com/* indicates that my toilet paper should last until October.

Ironically enough, my wife bought toilet paper before Covid-19 started to manifest itself in America, and she bought in bulk from Sam’s Club because it was the cheapest option.

We have not gone to the store to buy “necessities” since the panic buying began because we already have more than enough supplies to last us for quite a while.

In fact, in general, everyday life has barely changed for us in recent days. More than anything I think we are merely curious about how the world will respond to the CrAzInEsS that has become the new normal.

A few days ago we went to a grocery store not to buy anything but to see how human fear had affected business. We had heard stories and seen pictures, but we wanted to see it and document it for ourselves.

Empty Grocery Shelves Pasta aisle? Decimated.

Bread aisle? Devoured.

Toilet paper? Wiped out.

Coffee aisle? Well-stocked. (I always knew it wasn’t a necessity!)

The store had a lot of sales going on, but we had a hunch that the sales did not drive the mass amounts of nothingness on display. This is not normal.

This is widespread fear, and the fear bug is spreading faster and farther than Covid-19 ever will.

In a cruel twist of events, the American economy has taken a dive while the grocery stores move more product than they ever have. Why? Fear.

If you stood in a grocery store parking lot today and observed the army of well-armed shopping carts pouring out of the building, you would never guess that millions of Americans are suffering from reduced or eliminated paychecks.

Thanksgiving dinner shopping doesn’t compare to this exodus of food off the grocery shelves.

Super Bowl party shopping? Not even close.

Black Friday? Maybe…but TVs, Air Pods, movies, and home goods have given way to TP, air purifiers, masks, and canned goods.

Coronavirus Lego Set

Fear has manifested itself in the form of irrational actions. Every day right now we see people doing unreasonable things because they are afraid.

“So are you saying that Covid-19 is not as bad as we think and that everyone has overreacted?”

Not quite. There is a difference between acting out of fear and acting out of wisdom. Fear is irrational and wisdom is rational.

For example, when our government leaders choose to shut down businesses temporarily and close borders indefinitely, they are making reasonable decisions in an attempt to slow the spread of the novel Coronavirus.

But if our leaders go all out and prohibit doctors from going to work so that they do not contract the virus or pass it on to others, they would probably be responding out of fear rather than wisdom. Refusing care to suffering victims is not a reasonable response.

When we go to the store every week to buy food and other necessities, we are being wise. We need those things to live healthy lives on a daily basis. But many of us have crossed the line from wise to unreasonable; hence the barren grocery stores.

I understand that not everyone in America has enough food for two weeks. Living here and visiting many homes, however, has convinced me that most people have enough food and soap and toilet paper to last at least two weeks and probably much longer.

Check your pantries. Look in your freezers. Revisit your secondary freezers. Go to your storage closets.

I am going to guess that most people who have been stocking up already had enough supplies to last them a month. That’s how we operate here in America. We usually buy more than we need and already have enough to sustain us for a long time.

Thus the panic buying of the last couple weeks is unreasonable (for most people). Thus we are acting irrationally rather than rationally.

The bottom line is that fear makes us act in ways that are not logical or good. In other words, not only have we chosen to be afraid, we have also chosen to respond to our emotional creation the wrong way.

Unfortunately, we are creatures of habit, and many of us live in fear every day. For the most part, the novel Coronavirus has not struck fear into our hearts; rather, Covid-19 has revealed the fear that has lurked beneath the surface of our smiling faces for years.

This time we simply have a harder time keeping our fear hidden. I will explain more in my next post.

By the way, I’m curious. How long will your stash of toilet paper last you? Please leave a comment below and humour me!

*you can conduct your own study to see how long your toilet paper will last by visiting https://howmuchtoiletpaper.com/ (special thanks to my brother-in-law Paul David Larson for sharing the link with me)

(If you enjoyed this post, I would appreciate it if you share it with others!)

Fearful Man Our world has a fascination with fear. Horror movies are becoming increasingly popular, especially among younger populations. Many people (myself included) like to hide in the shadows at home and startle unsuspecting family members. Many governments around the world use fear to control their countries. On a more somber note, predators often use fear to keep their victims from trying to escape or contact a rescuer.

Today we have a virus whose power reaches beyond the immune system of hundreds of thousands of people; its power now reaches into the souls of billions who have yet to experience the illness.

But where did this power come from?

Us. You and me.

We gave Covid-19 the power that it wields.

If you think about it, fear has no power. Fear is a self-induced emotion that each individual crafts for himself, thus resulting in a variety of fears from person to person.

Some people are scared of spiders, but they aren’t born that way. They form a set of conclusions about spiders and then react based on those conclusions. Other people come to different conclusions and decide that spiders are not frightening. Some people eat spiders.

Some people are scared of the dark, but no one is born that way. They form a set of conclusions about darkness and then react based on those conclusions. Some people are scared of hurricanes. Some people are scared of flying in airplanes. Some people are scared of other people. The list goes on.

Ironically enough, although fear itself has no power, when we choose to fear something, we voluntarily give up some of our own power and transfer it to someone or something else.

This is what has happened in our world today with Covid-19. Fear of the unknown has caused us to voluntarily give up our power and transfer it to a virus that has only been alive for a few months.

But a desire to have that power back has resulted in panic- panic buying at Wal-Mart and panic selling on Wall Street.

Unfortunately, Covid-19 is more powerful than most people realized, and its power has only been strengthened by the power that everyone has voluntarily transferred to the virus. We have made the novel Coronavirus the force that it is today.

Does this mean that we were wrong to shut down businesses, cancel meetings, and refrain from traveling?

No. Those actions are called wisdom.

But those things should not be done out of fear or panic; those things should be done because we know that we have the ability to control the spread of the virus. Those things should be done because we know that our world has survived the entrance of many other viruses and diseases in years gone by.

Stockpiling toilet paper and food and other essentials, fighting with others over who gets to buy something, and sitting at home worrying about where our next paycheck will come from? That’s fear.

“But if we don’t do these things, we might not survive!”

Doubtful. Our world has survived world wars and pandemics and malicious governments and natural catastrophes. We will survive Covid-19 too.

Nevertheless, for me to stop there would be callous. The issue is much bigger than that, and a response that shallow will not help or encourage anyone.

That being said, stay tuned for my next post…

(If you enjoyed this post, I would appreciate it if you shared it with others!)

Instrument-4-Christ

What Does Fear Do to Us?

Fear: The Powerless Emotion That Controls Us