Failing To Fear

What do we fear most? Death? Poverty? Solitude?

True, fear is a terrible feeling. Fear douses hope, fear cripples action. Fear, as the Bene Gesserit sisters intoned, is the mind-killer.

But not all fears are bad. We should not fear to fail, but we should also not fail to fear. For fear, in the right dose and spirit, can drive us to success.

My greatest fears happen to be my most positive ones. They feed me hope, and spur me to action. Here are some of them, which are by no means exclusive and in no particular order, on top of my head:

• I fear that today will be as good as it gets, so I strive to shape a better tomorrow
• I fear that death will come too quickly and early, so I give my all to live every day to the fullest
• I fear that the world will stay mired in crime and corruption, so I strive to engineer and evangelise the changes required to fix its brokenness
• I fear for people suffering under stupidity and selfishness, so I hold the mirror to their faces and do whatever I can to jolt them out of their fantasy world
• I fear that my life will be all in vain, so I live a life of value

"You do not fear death. You think this makes you strong. It makes you weak."

Do not fear to fear. It was fear that allowed Bruce Wayne to make the climb and leap without a rope, to escape from hell and save Gotham. It was fear borne out of care - care for his life, and the lives of people he had the power to save.

Do not fail to fear. Fear can make us stronger. Fear can free our minds.