Fear

"So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself - nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance"

I have never really thought about this quote from FDR's first Presidential inauguration, but it has hit home very hard lately. I have been in some political discussions with some good friends lately, and it kicked off my thinking - we all live based on fear. I mean some people have deeper levels of fear than others, but is it not true that fear rules most of our lives? Albeit, it may be small at times and large at others, but fear paralyzes us, it makes us retreat instead of advance, it keeps us from fulfilling our potential. 

Let us think about this for a minute. How many times have we looked an extra time into the mirror out of fear of what people will think. It started as kids when we would not go down the dark hallway because we were afraid someone was down there and we would never be found. We don't talk about things we like or dislike, activities we do or don't do, people we're friends with or not friends with because we're afraid of what people will think. We think it would be awesome to go to another part of the world or even NYC at night but are afraid of who might be there. Must we live in fear, or is there a way around fear? 

I will not impose a cliche´ answer; however, my answer might seem cliche´to some, but it is said with sincerity and full-hearted belief. Fear can only be conquered by love. To worry about what others think about you is retreating your ability into advancing your love for those people. To fear what might happen if you walk down the street in NYC at night is potentially bypassing the opportunity to love someone that needs you there. I know, there is reasonableness to walking down an alleyway in the Bronx in the middle of the night, but I question if reasonableness is created in our own minds. 

Let me propose this: if I were to walk down the street in the Bronx in the middle of the night and saw someone being attacked (a very likely scenario), would I not have the opportunity to help the person attacked? Scenario 1. I run the opposite direction. Scenario 2. I try to help. If I run away, I abandon the person and most likely positive will not come out of it. If I try to help, two more scenarios could happen. Scenario A. I get severely hurt or killed. Scenario 2. I help the person and stop the attack. In either of Scenario A or Scenario B I have shown love to the person and have helped them. If I'm severely hurt or killed, they will see that I have tried my best to help them, and I will have meant a lot to that person. Even if I save the person, I will mean a lot to that person. Can anything we humans possibly face be worse than that of Jesus on the cross? Did he not set an example for us? I don't propose hurting yourselves intentionally, but I do propose thinking about fear in our lives. 

As a person who claims to be a Christian, I should not (but often do) fear anything on this earth or even death. If I were to die tonight, and what I have given my life to is in fact true, I will gain everything. Fear is a handcuff, a roadblock, an obstacle, a black hole. If we can cast off the handcuffs, tear down the roadblocks, get around the obstacle, fill in the black hole we have the freedom to live a fulfilling life. The so-called worse case scenario of death becomes the best case scenario of eternal life. We no longer have to retreat from loving others and necessarily will advance the love towards others. Let us not live based on fear. Rather, Let us live our lives based on the love that God has shown us. Only when we walk away from living in fear do we walk towards the life of Love God has shown us. 

"And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, "Which commandment is the most important of all?" Jesus answered, "The most important is, 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."