People always worry about the unknown. I used to chide my mother for that, especially when I moved to the US. My mother worried about everything. That there would be no Chinese food here, that I would be mugged, that I would somehow not be able to find friends and settle in.
Lo and behold, the tides are turned now. I worry. I've been worrying about all the many things that are going on in my hometown and in Asia in general because I have so many friends there. I worry that the war will hit Singapore, because it is in a predominantly Muslim area, I worry about misguided anti-American sentiments... and more recently I worry about SARS. Friends and family tell me it's not as horrible as the media makes it out to be, and that life still has to go on. When I don't hear from my family or friends who live in Singapore and HK for more than 4-5 days, the anxiety level rises and I can't help but think the worst.
When I was 21, I got dengue fever. I spent 3 days in ICU because I could not eat, or drink, was dehydrated and haemoglobin count was way below the lowest possible rates. They could not drug me because there was no drug for it, and the only thing that could be done was to put me on an IV drip, blood and plasma transfusions and hope that I get better. My parents were with me 24/7 by my bedside. That's all I can remember from the three days...that and puking my guts out non stop. Dengue is non contagious (unless you get bitten by a carrier mosquito like I did), and I can't imagine what it would have been like without someone I loved with me. I can't possibly imagine being quaratined away from everything you know while you're trying to make it through some shitty ass disease.
Maybe it really isn't as bad as it they say it is in HK and Singapore, but the anxiety from reading the papers, and not hearing from friends and family is just short of a full blown anxiety attack that arises from the fear of losing loved ones and being the helpless bystander.