Fear

By

B.J. Knefley

Fear is one of those crippling emotions that can paralyze a person. It’s as old as Adam and Eve as Adam told God that he hid because he was afraid. Young children hide when they’ve done something that they believe they will be in trouble for. Fear of what’s going to happen.  One of my daughters hid in the doghouse because she’d slammed the glass sliding door so hard that it jumped out of the tracks. Fearful of what was going to happen, she hid. Although not happy about the door, it was comical and something we still laugh about.

We live in a time that fear is a common emotion. We’re fearful of what tomorrow is going to bring, the economy, the state of our world, loss of job and income, crime, the direction of our government, and what’s coming across our boarders. The greatest problem with all of this is not what is happening, but rather what we are told is happening. Go to any news site and you’ll find story after story that’s telling about some event as if it’s going to be happening in your back yard. It would appear that every person that crosses our boarders illegally is a criminal or some other sort of savory character. Our government officials are either the greatest ever elected or the worse. Your rights are intact or they’re about to be taken away. Individual freedoms are being taken away or they’re not. Sadly, one can gather story after story that will support or nullify your greatest fears. Conspiracy theories abound and are so numerous that sometimes it seems as though there are conspiracy theories for the original theory. Where does it end and how do we not fall into the trap of fear?

Personally, I believe that the greatest problem we have is what we are feeding our minds with. From the time we get up to the time we go to bed, social media is occupying our lives. Every news site promises to give you the correct and unbiased news of the world. That, filtered through our own beliefs and views creates quite a schizophrenic world. Perhaps, the greatest protection that one could employ against fear is to stay away from social media and the news. You might find that you sleep better. Think about it.