Fear....kinda long

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Fear….Its a funny thing how one simple word can control every human being so easily. How a four letter word that is neither taboo nor offensive can completely dominate each and every one of out lives. When a person points a gun at another it is not the gun that causes a response, it’s the knowledge that the gun can kill which creates the fear of it. Yet I ask myself why so many people fear death. I mean if any/all religions are true and there is some sort of afterlife of bliss then why fear the end?
To me it seems one of three things. First is that even the most devote religious person can’t prove one hundred percent, even to themselves, that they will have an eternity of bliss. If people believe so strongly in an afterlife then why isn’t there epic numbers of people dying? Why spend so much time and money trying to cheat death? If people fear “sinning” or whatnot then to me it seems obvious that you would want to spend as little time “on Earth” as you possibly could. I also feel, continuing along religious lines, that deep down every person of faith questions and is unsure of whether or not their religion is the “the true faith.” If they end up being wrong then they really have nothing to fall back on. Of course there is the unknown. No one has ever come back to tell everyone what the other side is like and that causes many people unease. It’s the one corner they can’t see around.
It is this overwhelming fear of death that gives people such as terrorists and dictators so much power. All the weapons in the world mean nothing if the person or group being threatened by them have no fear of what they can do. Or at the very least have learned to control and/or channel the fear so it no longer controls their lives. This is very evident in today’s world. We have all this security to keep us “safe” and in some cases the feeling of need to have this security has drastically changed our lives. All because we fear that we will be attacked and killed. A terrorist is effective and “wins” when we throw everything we used to cherish away in order to feel “secure.” People will continue to act a certain way towards you when they know they are having an effect on you. If it works it continues to be used. For example, if you remove the teeth and claws of a grizzly bear or a lion, are they the same fearsome predator they were before? No, they aren’t. Now, I will be the first to admit that even “harmless” a bear or a lion is still a powerful animal and could probably still do some harm but its not nearly as effective as before. In the same way, security is an important thing to have, even if it’s the simple security of having a fire while camping. There comes a point however where you can have too much of a good thing. For example, a small fire is nice but you wouldn’t want to be near an entire forest that was ablaze. At some point we have to overcome our fears and say that enough is enough. We can have all the security in the world but it will not protect us forever against an individual, or group, who have a set of ideals and are willing to die for them. If anything, too much security can leave us even more vulnerable than we were before.
Now after saying all of that, fear is also a very important tool. It keeps us cautious, vigilant, and alive. Anyone who claims to be “fearless” or “invincible” is: a) lying, and b) a total dumb ass. People who throw caution to the wind are asking for trouble.