Photo: Wenn
Andrew WK, the man who never met a party he didn't like, has reassured the world that fearing Ebola shouldn't dictate your life.
Making a marked change from his standard diet of partying tips - including most recently 'wearing mismatched socks is perfectly party' - WK has now written a post for the Village Voice about how not to get freaked about by the disease. Responding to a letter from 'Scared Sick' the rocker waxes philosopical about the temporary nature of existence.
What follows is by turns thoughtful, considered and occasionally even life-affirming, summed up by WK's phrase: "We have too much living on our minds to fill our precious minutes with the constant reality of an eventual and unavoidable death."
The rocker also places the case in context. "Whether we die of disease, old age, violence, or some freak accident, the fact is that life, and everything about it, is temporary. And this current disease, and the wave of stress and panic it's rightfully causing, is also a temporary situation"
He also, quite rightly, points out that it is far more likely you won't contract the disease. "Based on the odds, we should be even more scared of dying in a car wreck, or suffering a severe life-altering injury. And if being constantly and extremely afraid of getting a fatal disease is a rational and justified state of mind, then we might as well also be perpetually afraid of being murdered, of being the victim of gang violence, of dying in a plane crash, or of being blown up by a bomb."
Rather than marking some sort of "countdown to extinction", WK simply sees this as the latest in a series of threats that have to be faced head on. "The idea of a global infectious disease outbreak is horrifying, and is possible, maybe even likely, to occur someday -- just as it has been many times in the past. But we are all already infected with a fatal condition called being alive."
Read the full article at the Village Voice website - and then do what WK suggests and hug your family and pet your animals.
