Fear

" No passion as effectively robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear."-
Edmund Burke
Boy, oh boy is that true. I remember when I first began my career as a carpenter, one of the jobs I had, indeed all of us had, was walking on top of a newly, partially constructed building. Sometimes the height was eight feet, sometimes twenty- something feet tall. Still, someone has to do this, and the natural inclination is to say," What? Are you nuts?"
The guy I was working for used to tell us not to let fear stop us. He was right, and conquering that little fear was a big thing in its own way. That little victory helped pave the way for other victories over other fears.
I sometimes believe that not enough people have had the experience of having to conquer little fears, and so they are easily rooted in their tracks, unable to go forward withtheir lives when confronted by the everyday fears that the media throw at us, and boy, do they throw them at us. Fear mongers, plain and simple, and they do it under the guise of helping us.
When I was growing up, there were no helmets for bicycle riding, no kneepads for skateboarding ( although it was my generation that invented the skateboard). And I am sure that there were damn few seatbelts in the cars of that day. I have a picture of myself as a child, asleep in the back seat of the family car, standing up-something that would no doubt horrify the safety organizations today. Yet, I survived.
True, some people didn't survive- this is the " natural selection" of the evolutionary process everybody has a fit over. The human herd, as well as any other species, will be culled of some of its members, some because they were unfit to live, others because of sheer happenstance.
This might be unfortunate for the people that this happens to, but it is an inevitable fact that it will happen. Where the media are culpable in their fear-mongering is in trying to convince the public that this is preventable. Well, perhaps some of this might be, but then where's the example that parents can point to? " Johnny ran his bicycle into a brick wall, and now he's a vegetable- do YOU want to be like Johnny?"
If there are no examples, then all that is left is folklore, and damn few people heed fables these days.
You see, most people learn from close, personal examples, not from stories- some don't learn even then.
But the media paralyse us in much of what we would do these days. Parents do not teach their kids gun safety, so their kid accidentally shoots another child, because he or she didn't know how to handle a gun. You see, when you know how to handle a gun, you gain respect for that tool. When you know just what it is capable of, you have a little USEFUL fear. This is but one example of the fear that can keep us from doing what we need to do to properly prepare our children for life, and indeed to fully live our own lives. I am not saying that every parent must teach gun safety, but if there is a gun in the house, then it is your obligation to teach the child, or there will be an incident, and it won't be pretty.
Aids is another fear, or the disease du jour that the media " Alert" us to. West Nile, Biological weapons, microwave radiation- you name it and the media will scream it into your ear until you are too scared to move. There is a big difference between caution and fear. Most people, however, do not recognise it.
When I was about six or seven, I began to explore my world, and much to my mother's dismay, I was fascinated with snakes, all kinds. Indeed, at first I couldn't distinguish between the species, and was very lucky not to have been bitten during these early days of exploration.
Instead of discouraging my interests, my parents bought me a book on snakes, so I could tell the difference between the poisonous and non-venomous species. Would that happen today with most parents? I think not.
You see, people need to know that most fear is needless, or can be managed, and turned to a healthy respect for the situation, not a mind-numbing fear. The whole key, in whatever the situation, is to be aware of the risks, knowledgably aware. That means to educate yourself on the true facts of any situation, not the " National Inquirer" screaming headlines.
Be Aware, not Afraid.

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