Fear

What makes people fear? What makes you fear? The first day of school. Public speaking. Roller coasters. Poverty. Pain. Rejection. Intimacy. Loneliness. Failure. Death.

In the end, what we fear most boils down to: helplessness and the unknown.

Why do little kids like night-lights? I mean, think about it--if monsters under the bed and in the closet really did exist, what good would a little light bulb plugged into a 120 volt socket actually do against it? Fear isn't so much in the actual event, experience, item, or player itself, but in the fact that we as humans like to know what is going to happen. We are creatures who like to plan ahead and know the future so we can attempt to control it.

Think of the fears that you have controlled in the past. Riding a bike down a steep hill. Having a spicy food. Riding a horse. Performing on stage. Think of all the joys that you have now that stemmed from a conquered fear. Many, I presume. If you never conquered your fears, you would have never left your crib and crawled on the floor. Never have opened the door to explore the great outdoors, never gone to school to learn, never gotten a job to grow, never gotten a friend to share life with.

We fear things that have no right to be feared. We simply fear them because we don't understand them, or we don't know what is going to happen. We hate being helpless and left in the dark, but at the same time, we live in the dark. We let our fears consume us and keep us from experiencing the fullness of life, just because we are unsure of what could happen.

When we finally go out on a limb and try that new food, jump out of the plane, and talk to that person, we grow. In the end, once we experience what we feared so much, we realize that it wasn't so bad after all. Maybe a Little pain, yes, but the cuts will heal and the scars will be unnoticeable. Perhaps, even a lesson can be learned and a new joy found. We find a new path to take and a new fear to conquer.