Have you noticed the fear?
by Denise Novaky on 12/27/14Have you noticed that mankind is fearful? I am not talking about personal worry like fearing a mortgage payment will not arrive at the bank on time or fearing the reason your friend does not return phone calls. I am taking about the kind of fear that is printed in all caps and grips the inside of the belly. It is the fear that hides and is acted out with the shouts, protests, and drama aired on the nightly news but slices through the heart of the human spirit. Fear has also given way to behaviors so tragic that pictures are left to relative obscurity because they will negatively effect sales and ratings. The horror that this fear brings is beyond my reason.
I have read about Northern Iraq and Africa where men, women, and children are tortured and killed by religious extremists. Children are left orphaned as their parents are murdered or sold into slavery. Children are raped and killed. Villages are plundered. I saw a picture of several rifle barrels placed at a young toddler's head. Was that act meant to threaten the parents? Were the parents already taken? Or, is this photo a byproduct from a frenzy of killing? It has been suggested that mothers in these villages are killing their children before the extremists can get to them. I cannot find any substantiation of this type of protection but, as a mother myself, I think it makes sense. It is very likely that mothers are giving their children to the afterlife for protection. They are unable to protect them on Earth. We are unable to protect them on Earth.
The religious extremists are fearful that their belief system will fade into obscurity and so they threaten death to anyone who does not join.
Police officers in these United States are fearful that they will be shot by the seemingly unarmed individual they intend to arrest. The individual will not follow instructions and the police officer responds as trained. The police officer shoots. He is fearful and wants to save his own life. I doubt the officer is thinking about racial issues; it is more likely he is fearful of never eating dinner with his family again.
Meanwhile, the arrested individual is fearful that he will not be respected, will be misunderstood, will be railroaded without justice. He does not have a vendetta against the police. He is afraid.
Making a world without fear seems a little overwhelming and unrealistic at this point. Of course, sometimes when we meet up with anger we need to protect ourselves. There is no time to explore fear. Mostly, though each one of us can do a part to be the change. When confronted with another's anger, think about how to allay their fear before responding with anger that covers your own fear.
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