Starve the Fear

Fear is a potent weapon. It is a natural emotion that can sometimes overpower us. It can certainly blind us to reality. It can distract us from what is really going on. Fear has been exploited by governments against members of its own population or to create hostility against other nations. Hitler used it against the Jews, the communists, the Poles, the Russians, and others to great effect. Joe McCarthy used it to persecute anyone who might even look like a communist, and fear of communism drove our politics and economy for over forty years: from the late 1940s to the 1980s, resulting in tremendous outlays of precious resources, interference with the governments of sovereign nations in South and Central America, and the killing of thousands of innocent people, as well as war in Korea and Viet Nam, causing tens of thousands of American military casualties.

Religions have used fear to wipe out competing religions. Catholics used it to justify the Inquisitions and to cripple scientific inquiry. Puritans used it to justify witch burning in the American colonies and in Europe. The Christian world used it to justify the Crusades against Islam. Even today, Conservative Christians exploit the fear of Islam, while conservative Muslims exploit the fear of the West.

Social and financial classes use fear against the poor and the working class to limit earnings and basic human rights. Racist societies used it against other ethnic groups to enslave and/or slaughter whole populations.

Our own government, even now used fear to launch an illegal war in Iraq and is trying to provoke another war with Iran. They are trying to use fear of terrorism (at which they seem to excel) to rob us of our constitutional rights and turn us into a police state, under constant surveillance, with restricted and monitored movement, monetary transactions, and political activity.

But control of fear is a two-edged sword. It can be manipulated by outside forces, or it can be managed by the individual:

A native American grandfather was talking to his grandson about how he felt. He said 'I feel as if I have two wolves fighting in my heart. One wolf is the vengeful, angry, violent one. The other wolf is the loving, compassionate one.' The grandson asked him, 'Which wolf will win the fight in your heart?' The grandfather answered: 'The one I feed.

Don't feed the wolf of fear. You have the power to look beyond the emotion and decide for yourself whether or not you have something to be afraid of. Fear is natural, it has a purpose: to alert you to something that may be dangerous. Then you can decide what must be done.

This Fear

It hurts this fear
it grabs me by the gut and twists
until I want to double over
and my stomach refuses food
threatens to spill its load

It races my heart
and pounds the pressure
to new heights of danger
It spins my brain
until the walls begin to move
and the ceiling and the floor
try to trade places

It keeps me from sleeping
no comforting rest only
tossed blankets and a punched pillow
while my mind revisits the day
and weaves endless scenarious
of what transpired
and how I should respond
and how it may turn out
what I might say and do
to head it off or if
the whole thing will come crashing down
despair and hopelessness
fear’s evil companions
test the edges for a foothold

It hurts it hurts
this fear like a feral animal
trys to find a nest
in the neglected weed patch
I have yet to cultivate
from which it might coil and spring
take over the peaceful meadow
I have worked to hard to cultivate

It is not my fear
and I lay no claim to it
it is foreign and strange
I refuse to give it sustenance
or let it roam freely
the landscape of my life
for I have looked Death in the eye
and we have an understanding
it is not yet my time to go
and fear has no hold on me