Are You Afraid of the Dark?

This is a great question, well maybe not so specifically sharks, but the meaning behind it? Why do people have irrational fears? My response to the questions posed here is two fold.

First, are fears rational? Obviously not, but that immediately demands that a second question most be answered. Why do people have irrational fears. As for each individual person with their individual fears, a general, definitive, all-encompassing answer does not exist. While a fear of sharks is relatively common, it, in most instances, can be written off as an effect of over-imaginative social media. In fact, so can the fear of spiders, snakes, bats, and all other creatures commonly depicted as dangerous in horror movies. It isn’t to say that is the cause of everyone’s fear of sharks. Hypothetically, a person might fear sharks because of a shark attack. It could happen.

I believe that it is also reasonable to say that not everyone has the same definition of irrational fears. It is probably true that every single person has their own variation on the definition based on their own personal irrational fears. Take me and mine for example. I have a fear of spiders. I hate them, can’t stand them. Just the thought of them gives me the heeby-jeebies. Ugh. Not everyone would consider that irrational though. My mom is afraid of snakes, yet I enjoy them. I consider her fear irrational, but she may have a perfectly good reason for it. What I am basically attempting to say here is that the question of why someone has an irrational fear can only be answered on an individual case by case scale, if it can even be answered at all.

Part two. What deserves our fear? I’d venture to say that anything that disrupts our “happy bubble” is deserving enough. Maybe that is the fear of losing one’s family because of one’s sexuality. No matter how strong or faint the possibility is, it is still a possibility. Maybe it is a fear of failing because a college degree is the ticket to a good job. Or maybe it is a fear of being on the road because one’s little sister got her driver’s license. Actually I’m just kidding about that last one. She lives way to far away for that to be an issue.

Let’s face it. Everyone has their own fears, and those fears only make sense to that particular person. I want you to take a minute and think of what your fears are, and are they rational? Food for thought. I’d also like to point out that I would probably be one of those 450 people that die by falling out of bed. We can add that to the list. Hahaha

Live a little and peace out!