Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Fear Survey

This meme-style survey was posted on Snipes, Logomancy & So So Psychosis. Perhaps because of the Greatest Danger posts, it really hit home to me, so I decided to answer it, and encourage others to answer on their sites as well. If you do answer, please reply here so I can go look at your answers. I’m interested. In the mean time, here are my responses to the Fear Survey.


When you were a child, what do you remember being most afraid of? How did you overcome your fear? Did you ever overcome it?
You know, I’m not sure any specific fear stands out from when I was a kid, except maybe the fear of making a mistake, of messing up. I became a perfectionist at an early age, and would get pretty embarrassed at the slightest goof. And I think that some of that still exists with me today.


What are your biggest fears now? Tell us how they manifest themselves...
My biggest fear is the growing divide between the West and the Middle East. It manifests itself in a constant thirst for knowledge, and a desire to understand the conflict from all issues, as well as to help others understand it better, because I think that, with our own government being part of the problem (no offense Bush supporters), the only hope lies in the citizens of both sides, and communication between them.


Are you afraid of terrorism? Tell us when and where you are afraid, how, etc...
I’m not that afraid of terrorism. I’ve lived through it in the past, and I guess I’ve come to realize that terrorism is a symptom of a greater issue, and these issues deserve my fear.


Please write a brief reaction to these quotes:
"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself"
I don’t think the only thing to fear is fear itself, but I think that fear needs to be feared. Look at what it causes us to do: it causes us to compromise our beliefs, values, and goals. It undermines the very pillars of what makes our society great, the freedoms and rights. Fear is a major fear indeed. It just so happens there are more major fears as well in the world today.


"There would be no one to frighten you if you refused to be afraid."
There are definitely things to be afraid of, and turning a blind eye to these issues would indeed be both naïve and dangerous. If we truly refuse to be afraid, there are many issues that could lead towards annihilation in the long run. Iran, perhaps?


"Anyone who trades liberty for security deserves neither liberty nor security"
Absolutely! If we compromise our liberties, our society ceases to be worth fighting for. We need to secure our borders, definitely, but not at the cost of our liberties. Otherwise, we’ll save our society only for it to collapse when other threats are eliminated.


"You must trust and believe in people or life becomes impossible."
Yeah, I sort of believe that. It’s true that I’ve been burnt a ton of times for being too trusting, but I wouldn’t trade those times, because only by trusting people have I had some of the amazing experiences I’ve had. You have to take a risk, and that means trusting.

technorati tags: , , , ,


Posted by Scottage at 2:39 AM / | |