{"id":3786,"date":"2020-04-02T23:52:34","date_gmt":"2020-04-02T23:52:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/?p=3786"},"modified":"2020-04-03T03:10:56","modified_gmt":"2020-04-03T03:10:56","slug":"worry-concern-and-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/worry-concern-and-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Worry, Concern and COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>
\n(Springtime in Minnesota: and a winter weather advisory.)<\/p>\n

The COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t affected us much here in central Minnesota. Apart from the governor’s stay-at-home order, no Mass and new shopping rules.<\/p>\n

A winter weather advisory starts tonight. That explains the mid-afternoon dusk outside.<\/p>\n

My son is still sick. Not as sick as he was a few days back, but he’s not going back to work yet. Maybe he’s got a non-COVID-19 sort of bronchitis.<\/p>\n

Or a mild case of the current pandemic disease. Likely enough, we’ll never know.<\/p>\n

As I’ve said before, Minnesota medicos only have so many test kits. Reserving them for folks who need a diagnosis makes sense.<\/p>\n

Which doesn’t keep me from worrying. Momentarily, when I’m paying attention.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Worry Happens, Concern is a Choice<\/h4>\n

<\/a>As far as I know, merimnaphilia isn’t in the DSM. Or anywhere else.<\/p>\n

DSM? That’s the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the American Psychiatric Association’s frequently-updated catalog of ways our minds can go haywire.<\/p>\n

I’d been looking for a word meaning ‘love of worrying.’ And not finding one. Which is why I decided to make one.<\/p>\n

We have Greek-derived words for a mess of psychiatric disorders: philias for disordered fondness, phobias for unreasonable fears. But not merimnaphilia, excessive love of worrying. Not until now.<\/p>\n

If my neologism was in the DSM, folks who enjoy worrying too much would be told they’ve got merimnaphilia. Then there’s the issue of deciding how much is “too much.”<\/p>\n

I’m not sure that worrying, the emotional analog of concern \u2014 angst, general uneasiness \u2014 is ever something to encourage.<\/p>\n

Worry, like any other emotion, happens. There’s no point in worrying about worrying.<\/p>\n

Experiencing emotions is part of being human. There’s nothing wrong with emotions, by themselves. Not until I decide what I\u2019ll do. (Catechism, 1762<\/a>–1770<\/a>)<\/p>\n

On the other hand, I’m pretty sure there’s a line between too much and too little concern. Maybe more a borderland than a line, and I’m drifting off-topic.<\/p>\n

Or maybe not so much. There’s no shortage of reasons for concern.<\/p>\n

<\/a>New Orleans Mardi Gras<\/h4>\n

\"Mardi<\/a>
\n(From Infrogmation of New Orleans, via Wikimedia Commons, used w\/o permission.)<\/span>
\n(Mardi Gras, New Orleans, 2019. Before COVID-19.)<\/p>\n

Mardi Gras, “fat Tuesday” in French, started as a way to use up a household’s supply of lard and fat before Lent. Or maybe as ancient celebrations like Saturnalia.<\/p>\n

It’s also a nationally-famous annual party in New Orleans.<\/p>\n

Folks from around the country come to see the parades, visit the bars, and enjoy a temporary suspension of societal norms.<\/p>\n

I’m not convinced, at all, that it’s a reasonable way to get ready for Lent, and that’s another topic for another day.<\/p>\n

The New Orleans Mardi Gras is also a major money-maker for the city. Which may help explain why the parties and parades happened again in February.<\/p>\n

Monday morning quarterbacking is easy. I can look back and see why Mardi Gras 2020 shouldn’t have happened. But I didn’t have to decide whether or not to cancel an economically significant event.<\/p>\n

And I don’t know what the folks with that responsibility knew, or how they saw what we now call COVID-19.<\/p>\n

Maybe the new coronavirus disease looked like something mostly limited to China.<\/p>\n

WHO, the World Health Organization, didn’t call it a “public health emergency of international concern” until January 30.<\/p>\n

It wasn’t declared a pandemic until March 11.<\/p>\n

By then, the Mardi Gras parties were over and people were getting sick. Some have died.<\/p>\n

Some of the dead are known only to their friends and families. Others are among New Orleans’ high-profile personalities.<\/p>\n

It’s not all bad news. Apparently there’s discussion of whether other massive get-togethers should go ahead as planned.1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n