Fighting Fear: When the Knife Won't Work at a Gun Fight

I woke up today to news of a synagogue shooting in the United States and a plane crash in Indonesia. My mind traveled back to last night, when a big storm was raging outside of the apartment I’m currently staying at. I love storms. I love watching them, and being in this high rise apartment, I got to see the storm rage last night. Today, there is no storm present, other than the countless that rage in people’s hearts. In the U.S. and in Indonesia.

I find myself sitting relatively safe in this apartment, thinking about fear. That’s actually a little ironic since my friends and I just watched episodes after episodes of the Netflix supernatural horror television series, The Haunting of Hill House, until very late last night. Some of us invite fear into our daily lives, some of us relaxes with it, some of us gets a thrill from it.

These happenings, shootings and plane crashes, are unfortunately not rare in the world we live in today. Some are human originated, some are nature’s tantrum. (I try not to ascribe the label “acts of God”, because I realize that I can’t be certain one way or another that God really instigated these events. He might have let things happen, yes. But intentionally authoring them? Well, this might be suitable for a completely different post.)

These happenings, though, are more or less out of our control. When should we anticipate them? Should I anticipate a shooting every time I walk into the religious establishment that I happen to work at? Should I refrain from traveling to other places in fear of the plane crashing?

There, in the last sentence I wrote, lies the subject of my musings today. Fear. I am very aware of the fact that fear lurks behind each of us, somewhat like a silent ghost, shadowing us. Some of us are more aware of its presence. Others are more oblivious. But it waits. It keeps on waiting patiently. Until the time when it can swallow us whole, leaving us incapacitated and trapped.

“Fear lurks behind each of us, somewhat like a silent ghost, shadowing us.”

People do weird things when they’re afraid. Some, like cornered wounded animals, lash out and wound anything that would come near. Others retreat to a walled citadel that is their own self. And others just do the weirdest and, often, most foolish things. All because fear has taken over completely.

In the past century (and more) we have been involved in war after war. Different generations are defined by different wars. The Great War, World War II, Cold War, Vietnam War, Gulf War. The last, called aptly, The War on Terror, has been around for seventeen years. And it is still going. For me, the image that it conjures is of a medieval knight waging physical war on a looming darkness that is threatening to overcome.

“Fear is like a medieval knight waging physical war on a looming darkness that is threatening to overcome.”

I am not going to take the time to talk about how I deal with fear. Not just yet. I might do a follow up post soon. I’m just more than a little curious.

How do you fight fear?

We are all on personal wars on terror. You and me. Fear, like that big darkness threatening to overcome us, seems undeterred by physical weapons like lances and swords and automatic weapons. When we attempt to, it’s like bringing a knife to a gunfight. I’m just curious as to what weapons you are using to fight this war? How do you keep fear at bay?