Fearless

For all my life I have been afraid of the dark. I don't know what it is about the dark that scares me. The fear is very real, but the actual danger of the dark is non existent. This exact scenario is seen on a large scale every day. The U.S. population fears terrorism, teens become afraid when they see a police officer, every day we face fear. Why is it though that we become afraid of certain peoples, objects, or situations. It is all based on perception, what we know about certain people, how we see them or that group of people. For instance after 9/11 the majority of the American population became fearful of Arabs. Seeing them on the street, or in a taxi most people grouped them with terrorism, understandable of course, but wrong. We as a society make these scapegoats to help us cope with fear, the same way a young child will have a night light to help them cope with being afraid of the dark. We place all of our fear into blaming someone else in order to feel safe. In more recent news, the black community in Ferguson, who rightfully so, are quite fearful of the police force in their town. But why is it that we become so afraid of what has happened in the past. Why can't we forgive and forget? Because fear has nothing to do with forgiving, and everything to do with forgetting. Perhaps the community in Ferguson has forgiven its police force, and maybe the U.S. has stopped blaming all Arabs for the acts of few, but what really matters in forgetting. Fear thrives on our memories, what we saw, what we heard, or what we experienced.

The manipulation of fear often times is more frightening than the original fear itself. How governments scare people into voting for certain policies, or for certain representatives. How groups of people use fear to scare people into believing their philosophies, these tactics have been successfully used for years. From the Mongols, to the Nazi's, to 9/11. My question though, is how is it that we become so afraid of something that in order to feel safe we have to completely destroy it. German's fear of bankruptcy led to the rise of Hitler. Americans fear of terrorism led to a large scale war on terror. What is it in our bodies or minds that drives us to take such large scale actions against fear? Because that is the only way to fix it. Fear doesn't work itself out, or present a simple answer, the only way to defeat fear is to destroy it. You are afraid of the dark? Turn on a light. You are afraid of a spider? Kill it. There is no easy way around fear, no pill to help, no book on beating it. Fear comes down to a decision. You can live and be afraid, or you can act. In the end everyone will die, certain practices will stop and some groups will be dismantled. In the end, it all ends, so why be afraid. Fear is a choice, and you have to risk it to get the biscuit.