Pandemic panic.

Costco scares me on any Saturday. I wasn’t there this weekend, but I heard about the crowd. Shopping carts snaked back from the checkout to well past the rotisserie chicken. If it’s possible to pick Costco clean, it will happen during this pandemic. Grocery stores never had a chance.

Panic and pandemic sound like they share a Greek lineage. I looked. Sure enough. Pan, the God of woods and the source of frightening sounds that struck fear in crowds throughout a village. The sounds we’re hearing are certainly sending alarm through our village.

When we are afraid that there might not be enough for everyone, it must be a natural reaction of humans to gather more than enough for themselves. The people with the greatest fear gather what they fear won’t be there for them if they don’t take it now. And by taking more than they need, there isn’t enough for everyone else. Interestingly, the people who fear that others will get what they want are the ones who take what other people will wish to get. By not sharing the fear, the fearless get nothing.

The feeling of never having enough is a miserable way to live. If we felt we had enough would there be enough left for everyone?