Friday Follies...
Made it to another weekend...we MUST be blessed!
I'll bet there isn't a day that passes when you don't pick up a paper, watch the news on TV or even poke around online here and those hairs on the back of your neck start standing up, right?
That's perfectly fine...you're SUPPOSED to react that way.
It's only you telling yourself that something isn't quite right (like I mentioned yesterday).
Curiously enough, it also is a portent to what I like to call a FEAR RESPONSE.
Now, before you start going "But Bob...I'm not feeling all that fearful"...stop and think about it.
You're NOT fearful about the way the world is going?
You have absolutely NO fear whatsoever when it comes to things as they currently are playing out?
You have EVERYTHING under control...nothing in question.
I thought so...you ARE concerned, and about a great many things.
That's OK...it's fine to have a bit of fear in you.
Lord knows I have MY share as well...every single day.
FEAR is one of those odd emotions, because it can stem from a myriad of things or situation, and it also can lead us to do any number of things in response.
The most obvious is the "fight or flight" action.
We decide to either get in there and "mix it up", or we choose to back away to fight another day.
Much of how we react in THIS case is predicated upon the opponent(s) and level of experience we may or may not have to properly deal with whatever is making us fearful.
Now, consider the recent headline that states: "FORTY ONE MILLION AMERICANS ARE ON FOOD STAMPS".
To me, that's way too damn many, because I also see the fraud aspect to this...people with nothing in their lives but the next entitlement.
And everyone else who IS productive pays for it...nice work if you can get it (and live with your conscience).
But reading such headlines SHOULD make one a bit fearful.
How many families are but a paycheck or two from financial insolvency?
And how many families that make over $20K+ are NOW considered "at poverty level"?
Hell, there was a time I used to DREAM of making $20 grand a year...but I was also working for it.
Now, it seems a family of FOUR can make upwards of $40K and still get "assistance".
That should scare the bejeezus out of a lot of us.
Still, as I say, FEAR is a complex part of our makeup.
Fear can make us do some really stupid things, but fear can also make us choose a lot more wisely, and with greater caution.
Fear can turn us into cowering lumps of flesh, or it can motivate us into action to deal with the initial threat.
Show me a person that goes into a combat scenario and says they have NO fear whatsoever, and I will show you a LIAR.
Having the proper level of fear heightens the senses...it provides an "early-warning system" to us, so we become more aware of surrounding people, places, and things, and that WILL save your ass.
It's when we DENY that fear, merely brush it aside, that we get that ass of ours in that sling, and everything gets FUBAR real fast.
In a world such as we have today, it never hurts to keep your fear handy, always ready to kick your awareness up a notch when required.
Face it, we have rising unemployment (we're now up to 9.7%), more foreclosures (and that alone should raise the fear level), banks afraid to lend money in such tenuous economic times, a growing national debt, devaluing of our currency, a potential for rising gas prices over the next hill, Wall Street selling more than buying (by a factor of at least six), China waiting in the wings to buy up more of OUR nation, border problems out the butt, and terrorist activity abounding.
And THOSE are just the BIG-TICKET items...
We've got more drugs on our streets, LEOs being targeted, fire houses being shut down a few days due to "rolling blackouts" in funding, states going broke, violence in our schools (like one boy taking a baseball bat to another boy in middle school gym class in Fort Wayne), violence in our neighborhoods, rapists, carjackers, drunk drivers, child predators, and more apathy from the entitlement-driven low-class masses than you can shake a welfare check at.
Now, if there isn't SOMETHING in all that which makes you the LEAST bit fearful...you'd best check your pulse.
(and you might want to contact the next of kin...just in case)
Now we can view our fear with contempt, like why should "we" have to BE fearful...we're better than that.
And in some aspect, you're correct.
But instead of viewing our fear(s) with disdain, we should be working WITH that fear...working THROUGH it with a course of action, as opposed to being scared into INACTION (which is what a lot of people would HAVE you do).
Any time that we become fearful, we need to remember it's all part of being human.
We need to concentrate on eliminating the immediate fear, because there will always be something else to make us fearful, just waiting in the wings.
We take on that immediate fear in the same manner we deal with people...ONE AT A TIME.
What you don't try to do is take it ALL on at once.
That WILL make you even more fearful. Not having a plan to work through a fear will only chafe your psyche more.
And the last thing you want is a rash on your psyche, especially THESE days.
Are we living in tough times?
Yasureyoubetcha.
Are we up to dealing with the tasks at hand?
Depends.
Are we looking at the problems in our life with a definitive method to dealing with them, or are we back-pedaling, and just coasting along, hoping they will "work themselves out"?
Look at whatever fear you might have in your life as the great motivator, instead of that annoying impediment.
Know that everyone is fearful.
Believe that you CAN determine the best course of action to take to allay that fear.
So, before I leave you to the weekend, here are some things to ponder:
Fear is a darkroom where negatives develop.
~Usman B. Asif
There is a time to take counsel of your fears, and there is a time to never listen to any fear.
~George S. Patton
Many of our fears are tissue-paper-thin, and a single courageous step would carry us clear through them.
~Brendan Francis
There is much in the world to make us afraid. There is much more in our faith to make us unafraid.
~Frederick W. Cropp
Fear is the father of courage and the mother of safety.
~Henry H. Tweedy
To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.
~Bertrand Russell
He has not learned the lesson of life who does not every day surmount a fear.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
There are times when fear is good. It must keep its watchful place at the heart's controls.
~Aeschylus
Fear is the enemy of logic.
~Frank Sinatra
Fear will keep you alive; indifference won't.
~Laurell K Hamilton
I've grown certain that the root of all fear is that we've been forced to deny who we are.
~Frances Moore Lappe
Fear is not the natural state of civilized people.
-Aung San Suu Kyi
The enemy is fear. We think it is hate; but, it is fear.
~Gandhi
Have yourselves a fantastic weekend.
Be well, make a difference to someone, and, as always...
Stay safe out there.