Fight fear with fun at event

SMITH: Forget fear and embrace fun as Eat the Street approaches.

Lismore City mayor Isaac Smith with GM marketing and brands Norco Ben Menzies get ready for Eat the Street in Lismore.

ON THE back of natural disasters, we all pulled together and found a way to help those in need.

Unprecedented flooding, fires and drought brought out the best in us.

So why has a cold on steroids pulled us apart so quickly?

Is it the media and their love of an impending disaster?

Covering a natural disaster is more about the aftermath and overcoming.

Each image of horror usually accompanies an heroic tale.

Someone who went above and beyond.

But an impending disaster has no heroes.

Just speculation and opinion, well worn tropes on facebook.

Is it human nature and the highly physical, internal nature of a virus?

We all respond to illness in ourselves and others with a wide range of emotions.

But largely it's a "get away from me" mentality as we go about our daily lives.

Some run towards the trouble and our nurses, doctors and wardies are a great example.

But largely we close down rather than open up.

So can we do better?

I think so.

As large public and private institutions continue to see their trust eroded, some justifiably through a lack of leadership others the victim of populism and opinion, it is community we must turn too.

Our strength post disaster can be employed in this current situation to make everyone's lives better.

So how do we do that?

We celebrate the good, like Eat the Street this weekend.

An award-winning event which gives you the best of what we have to offer as a city and a region.

Fight fear with your feet and your dollars.

We all have a choice.

No one can tell us how to act.

We can make smart informed choices about issues affecting our families and our community.

Good choices will bring us closer together.

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