In This Episode: The rise of COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus, is exceeded only by the fear it engenders. Yet Uncommon Sense tells us that fear is getting in the way of what we should be focusing on, not just in the face of the pandemic but always.

065: Beating the Fear over Covid
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* To help support Uncommon Sense, see the Patron’s Page, or the button in the sidebar. Note: this week there’s a new option using “Ko-fi” — a micro-contribution site. It allows for contributions in $5 increments. I like it because it allows you to leave a comment with your contribution, use Paypal or plastic, and choose whether you wish to contribute once or monthly.
* I mention my father: his business was “detecting” things: radioactivity (with Geiger counters), pipes (with metal detectors), etc. The company he created the logo for which still exists (as a division of a larger company) still sells detectors under the Detectron name, using the logo shown within the transcript below.
* The fifth volume of my Honorary Unsubscribe series was recently published. You can get the ebook or paperback from me, or from Amazon (the latter being cheapest if you’re outside the U.S.)

Transcript
Welcome to Uncommon Sense. I’m Randy Cassingham.
I have a friend in California that loves going into deep-dive conversations. We chat once a month or so.
When I say “deep-dive,” I mean the conversation can go just about anywhere, but it’s certainly not silly stuff like the weather or gossip. Every call is meaty, and it keeps me on my feet because I know he’s smart, and he’s not interested in fluff.
This week, we talked about death. Not just because of COVID-19, but because Jeffrey knows I’m a medic, and have seen plenty of death up close. The discussion didn’t stay abstract for long, but I didn’t talk about patients or my experience of being with someone when they died, but rather he was fascinated about the obituaries I write — the Honorary Unsubscribes.
He’s not a Facebook dude, but I said pretty much anytime I post a link to an Honorary Unsubscribe, or other notice of someone interesting who had died recently, there were two kinds of typical responses. First, the “oh, how sad,” “tragic,” or “heartfelt condolences.” The second type is more along the lines of, “What a legacy!”, “A great life well lived,” or telling a memory of something the person did that they remember.
I’m in the second camp: I like to celebrate the accomplishments of those who lived their lives to the fullest. I don’t mourn their passing, because that’s the cycle of life. For me the question becomes, did they make the most of the time they did have?