“Abridged His time of fearing death”

I saw an amazing production of Julius Caesar yesterday and was struck by Brutus‘ speech, “So we are Caesar’s friends, that have abridged His time of fearing death” (Act III, Scene 1). While Brutus’ motives seem self-serving, fear is a huge component of health and wellness. Many advertisements use subtle and not so subtle tactics to scare people into changing their behavior. Ellen Goodman pointed out the constant dilemma we are all in about how to use “the newspaper stories in front of me full of the latest food health bulletins” and how, unfortunately, what is reported to cure one disease causes another – if you believe the latest study.