Fear
When I was a little boy I used to be afraid of the dark. Even when time came for me to have my own room, I seldom used it. There was something about the dark that was always so eerie and uncertain and indefinite. As I grew older, my fear of darkness melted away but then life brought along with it so much to fear.
I look around me today and I see the people around me and I sense the things that they’re most afraid of. ‘Will I lose the one I love?’ ‘Will I grow old before I do everything I’ve wanted to do?’ ‘What if I die tomorrow?’ ‘Will my children be safe when I’m not around?’ ‘What if they figure me out?’ ‘What if I get sick?’
We’re all afraid of something. We’re all fighting hard every day of our lives to make sure that our worst fears don’t come to pass. We pray. We make promises that we don’t intend to keep. We buy insurance. But does any of it really help? Isn’t there still that little voice that mouths off words of insecurity inside your head?
I’ve always tried very hard to understand fear and how it can be dealt with and then I began thinking of how children approach the subject. Like I said, when I was a child I was afraid of the dark but aside from that, there was actually nothing else (apart from my grandmother) that I was afraid of. As a child I didn’t try to understand the meaning of life and where we were going with it. I simply lived and enjoyed every day.
I think I’d much rather be afraid of the dark for no apparent reason than be afraid of all the other things we burden our adult lives with, giving each and every one of them such broad explanations so that we have more cause to fear them.
Just something that I felt like putting down… it’s true what they say you know, there’s nothing to fear but fear itself.
DD said,
October 26, 2009 at 11:19 pm
I have been afraid of the dark as far as I can remember, even now, seriously! Dark guy with round face, grinning with white teeth, bright red gums and bight blue shirt occasionally appears while I sleep. He peers through the door and walk up to me grinning. I wake up screaming to switch on lights.
If I am sleeping with someone he never appears. So after marriage much better.
I still hate hotel rooms and being by myself and leave light on.
There I said it…
thekillromeoproject said,
October 27, 2009 at 11:04 am
@ DD – I Think you’ve been having nightmares about Mahinda Maama, did the face have a big mustache as well??
lady divine said,
October 27, 2009 at 12:43 pm
good post! We all have our fears… and well, strangely it keeps us going too sometimes….
All part of life… and the ending..is so right.
DD said,
October 27, 2009 at 12:45 pm
@ krp : Machan looks a lot like Keith, but decomposed about five years with a terrible formalene job!
realfantasy23 said,
November 2, 2009 at 2:27 am
Fears are part of us, our lives..sadly! If we manage to get rid of one fear, another comes.
(still am!) I can’t get rid of this fear, I’m so so afraid of dogs.
My most childish fear can be I’m afriad of dogs.
@ lady divine – I agree with you.