Dear everyone,

I know you’re scared. So am I. But we aren’t alone. We are afraid together.

There is so much to be afraid of, and every day we are given that much more. We are told to be afraid of things in other places. We are told to be afraid of muggers and child abductors. We are told to be afraid of microscopic organisms that will kill us. We are told over and over again that the world is a dangerous place, a place that will swallow us whole and destroy us if we give it half a chance.

I want to tell you not to be afraid of that, but I can’t. The truth is that we are all going to die. One day our heart will stop moving blood through our bodies and our neurons will stop sparking. I do not know what will become of what I think of as ‘me’ when that happens. I, like most of you, have my own beliefs, my own faith that tells me what comes next. My faith tells me there is nothing to fear in death, but I understand that it scares us. Despite my faith, it sometimes scares me too.

But here we are. Death is the great equalizer. No who you are or what demographic you belong to, we all have death in common. Knowing that we are all in this together, that we share the most fundamental truths of life with each other, I think we need to appreciate each other more.

Every day we are surrounded by a wealth of knowledge and experience. A bounty of people, and we are scared of them. We are insular and terrified of people we don’t know. Stranger Danger is bad concept to teach children since the vast majority of abduction and abuse has nothing to do with random strangers. It’s a far worse thing to keep teaching ourselves. The scruffy guy walking down the street is not going to mug you. He is just like you. He is walking somewhere. One day he is going to die, just like you.

It’s likely that each of us knows someone who has died. Many of us may even know someone who has died violently. I would hope nobody reading this has actually died violently, because that would put a major crimp in my ‘we all die and don’t know what happens afterwards’ theory. (On a side note, if you are a zombie, vampire, or some other form of truly walking dead, I’d be fascinated to hear from you.) Some of us have been victims of violent crime. Some of us have been victims of family members, or those we’ve met on the street.

I can not deny that bad shit happens. I wish it didn’t, but it does. But I’m curious. How many people have you been victimized by? How many of the people you’ve encountered on the street have hurt you? Of the thousands of times you’ve passed strangers, avoided traffic accidents, or walked through a forest.

Think about that. Does your experience justify your fear of your fellow death-prone humans? Does your experience indicate that the rest of us are really that willing, even eager, to hurt you? How often have you thought twice about walking down a dark street? How much time and energy have you spent avoiding some snowballs chance of injury?

I’m not out to get you. I take it on faith that you aren’t out to get me. Sometimes I fear death, but you’ve given me no reason to fear you.

We are all afraid, but we’re not alone.

Stop being afraid of each other. Comfort each other. Love each other. Shine a light on fear and reach out. If you reach fiercely enough, if you stretch far enough, you’ll find someone reaching back.

Love one another,

Share the gift,

theo geer