Fear - Our Constant Companion
Fear is the one emotion that unites humanity. It is inescapable. It is the most irrational yet completely logical emotion. We are born in fear and we generally die in fear. Fear is loss. Fear is failure. Fear is the unknown. Fear is persistent and constant. It accompanies you and stays by your side like a faithful friend. Fear is best described as an oxymoron. It is as undesirable as it is desirable.
My fear of failure is as debilitating as it is invigorating. Fear is fire. Fear like fire is as creative as it is destructive. Fear is the fire in my heart that drives me to study at 5am in the morning. It is the fear of failure and disappointment that leads me to practice presentations until I memorize their entirety. But fear is a double edged sword. It can cut me just as well if I am not careful. It is only fear that causes me to panic before a math test. It is only fear that causes me to lose my bearings when I execute a dive. Fear is what causes my mind to blank on stage. My fear of failure cannot be conquered.
It is not meant to be conquered.
Fear is a force of nature; a product of evolution. Just as fire is not meant to be conquered neither is fear. One cannot live without fear, but neither should fear control them.
We experience fear at different moments in our day. There are times, when parents send their children to school they don’t know how the day will turn out. They send their children to school with the fear that they might not return home. We fear for our future as it is a variable entity. We cannot control the unknown. What we fear is influenced by the world we live in. Every time there is a shooting, the fear that it could have been us lingers in the mind; the idea that it might be us on the news in the future. This fear of loss, fear of the unknown drives us to make a better future for ourselves. Fear is why we fight to protect our planet from climate change. Fear is why parents and children march in Washington to promote gun legislation (anaphora).
Ultimately fear is what advances society to its greatest heights and the lowest lows.