ALL ANTHRAX ALL THE TIME

by Mark Elliot

October 24, 2001

 How many times have you used the word Anthrax in your life?

 We might have known the word, but very little about it.  Now we have TV News that gives us “All Anthrax, all the time.”  We know what its symptoms are.  How it’s spread.  How to treat it.  What to treat it with. (Cipro)  And, for how long. (60 days)

 What’s missing in all of this is something else that’s been happening with us.  Our stress levels have been reaching the breaking point.  It’s impossible to turn on the TV set, open a newspaper or listen to the radio without hearing everything you never wanted to know about something you prayed to God would never have to be talked about. 

 In a word: Anthrax.

 People cope in the best way they know how, usually by taking something.  In this case, taking anti-depressants while they worry about the next time they’ll have to go into a tall building, fly in a plane, or check the mail.

 Scary stuff which wasn’t scary before September 11^th.

 Looking at what’s happened to people is scary too.  We medicate when there are problems and find coping strategies to get us through the rough times.  Some of those things we do are really great like the ways we bond with people in a crisis: Speaking with others and feeling a part of a community as we band together to comfort each other.

Lots of people, me included, have given blood.  We want to help, and we’re willing to do things that we might not have thought of before.

But there are other reactions to fear that we’re seeing more and more of.  There will probably be a bit of a baby boom next May and June, because one of the ways people have used to cope with the fear is sex.  It’s a natural reaction to fear, to want to find comfort.  And it’s a driving force when all you’re hearing is bad news.

One of my friends who lived through the civil war in Lebanon told me that the best-selling drugs on the bombed out streets of Beirut were tranquillizers.  Everyone was taking them.  It was impossible to sleep without them, never knowing if a bomb blast would rip through your neighborhood, or your house.

Another way that people cope is by eating.  Food is comfort in our minds.  But, it’s also a problem for people who are already stressed.  Now they’ll worry about their weight too.

We cope whatever way we can.  But, one of the biggest problems to face is the fact that a lot of what we’re going through is fear that’s unnecessary.  There are real fears, things that we have to be afraid of; and things that are unneeded.  And for most of us, that includes the fear of Anthrax.

You need healthy fear to survive.  A healthy fear says not to walk off a cliff or drive a car without brakes.  But most of the fear we live with is “unhealthy fear”, worrying about things we can’t control, but trying to control them anyway!

In a way dealing with fear is like playing golf.  You need healthy fear to survive.  The optimum number of golf clubs to have in your bag is 14.  Being excessively fearful can be like playing golf with 86 clubs in the bag!

But, trying to rationalize with people who are scared is a tough one to handle.  The problem is that we like easy, quick solutions for problems that are complicated and complex.

I had a lady as a guest once who is a recovering agoraphobic.  She used to be housebound.  Afraid to go outside and totally crippled by fear of everything! 

It was after some long forgotten terrorist incident that was making headlines that day.  When I called her to ask if she’d appear on my show, she didn’t know about the incident I was talking about.  She hadn’t seen the news that day.  In fact, she wouldn’t have cared about it at all, except that I wanted to have her as a guest.

Her explanation was that she wouldn’t have seen it on the evening news, because part of her recovery from Agoraphobia involved giving up watching the news.

She was hypervigilant about wanting to know what was going on.  Always needing to be informed.  Needing to know.

One of the problems with all the information we have today is that some of us just can’t handle all the stress of knowing what’s going on.  It causes more problems than they are capable of facing.

So to cope, they have to turn to drugs or drinking.  Still more people turn in on themselves and cut off the outside world thinking it’s easier to control things by not facing them at all.

It’s a different way of doing the same thing as the people taking pills to cope with the problems.  They’re trying to control what they can in their lives so they won’t be afraid.

We hear a lot of saber-rattling about how to deal with terrorism.  But, one of the things that’s missing is a way for people to address the real terror that they feel about what they are going through.

Sitting around the dinner table eating with the family and watching the news means that a lot of the most horrible issues you’ll see on the screen are met with the words: “Could you pass the potatoes?” 

What’s needed is a real dialogue about what people are feeling and why?  It’s a particular need with kids.  Most of all boys.

We need to speak to boys a lot about what they’re feeling, how they react, or don’t to what they’re seeing and hearing.  The reason for this is that boys feel a natural need to protect.  Their gender model makes them feel they have to be able to do something.  It’s an aggressive instinct inside of them that they don’t like feeling powerless or emotional.

It’s okay for girls to be emotional.  That fits with their gender profile.  But, boys have more trouble expressing what they’re feeling.  They may not even react at all, but you can know that they are seeing what’s on TV and hearing what’s being said around them.  It’s having an effect, whether they show it or not.

And if you’re feeling too stressed about what’s going on, what can you do?

First, try turning off the TV!  There are lots of channels that aren’t devoted to Anthrax.  It’s like any addiction.  You may be afraid to miss something, but rest assured, if something important happens you’ll find out about it.   

Also, church attendance is up.  It always is in times of crisis.  So, if you’re wondering where you can find people to share your fears with, you can always pay a visit.

What makes the most sense is to talk about what you really feel.  What I’ve learned from alcoholism and drug addiction recovery is that the most important thing you can have is people around you with whom you can share your innermost thoughts and feelings.  Fear can’t live where there is understanding and love. 

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