Our grieving and sense of guilt could overwhelm us as we engage in an unwinnable war—must as we have done many times in our history when engaged in physical warfare. As I already noted, we might be propelled back individually and collectively to the second choice when faced with these prospects and the associated deeply felt emotions. Polarity vacillation could replace consistent consideration and compassion. We would certainly be tempted to refreeze (and turn to the first choice). We would become disillusioned like my very caring colleague in China observed.
Fight, Flight or Freeze: Perhaps the Only Options
Before leaving this third choice, we must acknowledge that it gets much more complex. There is another way in which the third choice can play out. It might not just be a matter of thoughtful and compassionate treatment of those who are afflicted. It might also be a matter of actively challenging widely held beliefs regarding the virus and social NPI policies. We might engage the fight. This is an important variant on the third choice. Like the engagement in humane treatment, this variant eliminates the freeze and moves us to action. As occurred in many countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, we become defiant protestors. Our oxytocin-based yearning for nurturance and bonding is replaced by our adrenaline-based push toward fight. If this doesn’t work, then we are pushed toward flight and a sense of profound powerlessness and alienation.
Fight occurs when we demonstrate outside the offices of our elected leaders. We prepare signs that say: “giving me liberty or give me death!” We produce You Tube videos that question the validity of a social distancing policy. “What are the real intentions driving this policy?” “Who started it out? Was this pandemic embedded in a plot hatched by government officials in some enemy country that was intended to destroy us? Were some major corporate leaders producing the virus in order to make money by creating the vaccine to defeat this virus?” “I want to know what is really happening!”
