Fear

"The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself"

-Franklin D. Roosevelt (1st Inaugural Address)

I'm still jumpy. I jump at shadows, I'm nervous of people walking behind me. Two days ago, I almost took a swing at a jogger who came up behind me suddenly. Twice a day I walk through the park near my house, and it puts me on edge every time. But I do it, and I'm going to keep doing it.

Almost everyone knows the Roosevelt quotation at the top of this post, though it's often paraphrased as "There is nothing to fear but fear itself". Roosevelt was saying that we must not let our fears dominate us; that what we fear is often invented, exaggerated or simply not deserving of such fear. In the context of his first inauguration in 1933, it was meant to be a rallying cry-to encourage Americans, and indeed the world, to be strong in the face of depression, the rise in European fascism, and the unflinchingly bleak times that seemed to face the nation and the world. But I think it alludes to something even deeper than that. I think it means that you only fear what you choose to let yourself fear.

This is counterintuitive. Fear is a strong emotion, and it grips us at unexpected times, and seems to wrest control from our rationality. But we can control it, and we must control it. If you are afraid of heights, you should go to the observation level of the tallest building and peer out over the city below. Because we allow ourselves to fear things we shouldn't. And fear is strong-if we don't actively choose to not be scared, we will be forever mired in that fear. And it will rule us.

Even more counterintuitive: fear is good. Fear tells us when we're about to do something stupid. Ultimately it was our ancestors who were scared of sabretooth tigers who lived long enough to produce offspring, leading to ourselves. So, we need fear. But we need to allow fear to do its job, without it keeping us from doing ours. Some things we should be scared of (sabretooth tigers, for example). But some fears are merely the by-product of an irrational response to that which we feel we are unable to control, or that which is unknown, or poorly understood. A healthy respect for heights is good-it keeps you from jumping off roofs like Keanu Reeves in The Matrix. But there is no reason to be scared of the height when you are safely ensconced in the interior of a skyscraper-you are not going to fall and that fear will limit what you can do. Similarly, a fear of snakes and spiders is quite rational in the Amazon, where poisonous varieties of both abound. In Britain or Canada, the fear is irrational, and simply a result of the "fight or flight" mechanism hard-coded into our brains.

Fight or flight, as alluded to above, allowed our ancestors to survive. It was instinctual-you just react. When you're confronted with a sabretooth tiger or a cobra, you don't have time to think-just flee. That's how you survived. But we're better than that now. We have moved past the need to be controlled on instincts; every day we forego what our animal brain tells us in favour of doing the right thing, the logical thing; we make rational choices based on the available information, beyond what our subconscious instructs us to do. Yet, too often, we yield to fear.

I'll say it again: we only fear those things we choose to let ourselves fear. You can confront your fears, and you should-it is this process that lets us live our lives devoid of irrational panic and fear. Because we've all seen what crippling fear can do to a society. We see it every day in the guise of the "War On Terror". The War on Terror is an excellent tool for control, by both sides. Those that employ tactics of terror do so because a society living in abject fear cannot function, and there is little that is more disruptive to our lives. So, attacks are made in just the right way-public places, hidden weapons, something that could "get" you, rather than attacking soldiers, who know and accept the risk. And the government is complicit in this. Whether it's a colour-coded "How scared should I be?" system, or constant talk of poorly-defined, nebulous "evil-doers", the fear that is perpetuated ensures that the government is relieved of their greatest responsibility-the stewardship of the countries they lead. When people fear for their lives at the hands of a bearded spook, taxes, scandals and corruption seem less important. Nothing is more revelatory than the phrase "If we ......., the terrorists win" (whatever the ..... represents). Because every time that phrase is uttered, the terrorists have won; because we're talking about them, we're thinking about them, and we're scared of them. The only way to truly "win" is to continue on as if nothing has changed-to choose to not fear.

More often, though, the fear is more subtle. It's a fear of being hurt, physically, emotionally or spiritually. We've been hurt in the past, and rather than confront that pain, we just avoid the situation that put us there. But nothing worth doing ever came easily. You don't learn to ride a bike without falling and hurting yourself. But when you fall, you get back up, dust yourself off, and try again. And you learn. Learn what you did wrong, correct those errors, and try again.

I have learned that I can't listen to my iPod while alone, at night, in dangerous areas. It was an expensive lesson, but one which will make me better equipped for my continued life in a big city like Manchester. But I will not change where I walk-I could avoid the park, I could avoid the subway under the highway that's so often full of undesirable elements of society-it wouldn't even add that much time to my trip home. But I won't. Because I will not let them win. I will choose to not be scared-the jumpiness will pass. You cannot live without risk-to do so is to obviate everything that makes us human; it is suicide. Fear is good, but only when you're in control. Take risks, learn from your mistakes, but above and beyond anything else, get up, dust yourself off, and try again. Own your fear.

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is not safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.

-Helen Keller