Covid-19 Sparked a Pandemic of Fear. Empathy Is the Cure.

This essay is part of a series called The Big Ideas, in which writers respond to a single question: What do we fear? You can read more by visiting The Big Ideas series page.

What are we afraid of? Everything, it seems. The Covid-19 pandemic has given way to a pandemic of fear that touches every area of our lives.

We have this fear of malady — of pain and suffering — and not too far behind that, a grinding fear of death. This fear is something I’d like to think we all share because each of us knows that, sooner or later, it will be our turn. And in a certain sense, each of us is just a fraction of an existential inch away from receiving some terrifying medical news.

There are people close to me who have recently gotten sick: with long Covid, with the long and painful slide into dementia and with fatal maladies of mind and body. The worst thing about fear is the way it can isolate us. We feel imprisoned in our fear; paralyzed by all the questions we have.

Yet fear can be relational — bringing us closer to the people in our orbits. In the hours after a loved one receives terrifying medical news, people gather and respond. After the immediate shock of such news subsides, a flurry of emails, text messages and conversations leads to an outpouring of sympathy, support and — perhaps most important — practical, concrete suggestions for accessing medical expertise. In moments like this, friends and family rally around, helping to assuage fear even if only slightly.