This blog holds all the messages I have been sending to family and friends lately. It is named "fear" first because I think that fears arise fundamentally from our wiring. My friend Larry said long ago that fear is faster than thought. He cited walking along a leaf-strewn path, stepping on a branch without realizing it. The other end of the branch jiggles a few feet away and our nervous system responds with instant fear and bodily alert faster than we realize that we ourselves are the cause of the sound and that there is no danger.
It sometimes happens that lying still in a quiet bedroom, I hear an ominous sound. What was that? My stomach and intestines gurgle and make a growling sound but it takes a second for me to realize "C'est moi!"
A toddler walks along a pier and can see the waves well below through a crack between the planks. He is reluctant to put his foot on the crack, even his foot is way too big to fit into the tiny space.
In The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming, a Russian patrol sub edges too close to the shore of a New England island, on the captain's orders. He personally wants to see America because he has never seen it. The crew tries to dissuade him but obeys, even as the sonar is warning of rocks and reefs. Too late, the sub catches on a submerged reef and cannot be freed. A crew is dispatched into the dangerous land of the US (at a time when the US and the USSR were indeed dangerous enemies) to find a strong enough motor launch to pull the sub free. Rumors of odd things happening fly around the island as incidents and sightings occur. It is Sunday morning and the men of the island are easily alerted and asked to gather for defense. So far, nobody has actually seen anything but one man is overtaken by fright and moans, "We don't stand a chance. We don't stand a chance." We know that this man has no evidence but is merely in the grip of pure fear. We also know that there is very little danger to anyone except for the possible outbreak of fear and panic-driven action.
Happy Easter to all and to all the hope that we can accept that some fears emerge from inside and some from outside but that we can face them all.
Bill
