Confronting Fear With Knowledge
Well, it’s October and we are more or less in spooky season, at least if you live in a country where Halloween is celebrated as Halloween or by another name for the holiday such as All Hallows' Eve. This is a time of year when people have some fun with fear and the macabre. It’s a time for carnivals, ghost stories, spooky films and tales, haunted houses, and haunting imagery.
Below is a link to a post containing one man’s take on what we can gain from facing our fears and learning more about what scares us. I remember once reading a thread on Twitter/X about the fear of spiders and arachnophobia and how it was an unmanly fear that should be addressed and conquered by a man. As I recall, the author of the thread went so far as to recommend putting one’s face into a terrarium containing tarantulas until the fear was conquered. Phobia or no phobia, I couldn’t imagine doing that. I remember hearing on the radio about a man that was bitten by a tarantula and his nose swelling to grotesque proportions. But I understand the thinking behind the suggestion. Confronting our fears can cause those fears to lose their power over us.
Likewise, I understand the thinking behind learning more about something that frightens us. It is said that fear of the unknown is one of the most common fears, if not the most common. And I too believe that knowledge can weaken or destroy unreasonable fears and make it easier to deal with reasonable fears.
I have a healthy respect for sharks. As someone that lived on the coast and spent a good bit of his time in, on, and around the water, I have experienced that moment of trepidation that one might feel while in the ocean when he or she remembers that sharks live in these waters after seeing a shadow or noticing what seems like an unusual, sudden calm. I have been called from the ocean by lifeguards because of a shark sighting up or down the beach from where we were bodyboarding and surfing. Following one youthful adventure in the waters off of Fort Fisher, a man told me and some new friends that the area was a good spot for tiger sharks. But while I am understandably not looking forward to the prospect of an encounter with a shark, I understand a little something about sharks and what drives them. I understand that humans are rarely targeted for predation by sharks, that many shark attacks are the result of mistaken identity, and that if sharks were the mindless eating machines that were the villains that some might try to portray them as being you likely couldn’t dip a toe in the water without being attacked. The truth is that many of the people that have spent any significant amount of time in the ocean probably have been closer to a shark than they would care to admit. Sharks definitely can pose a risk to life and limb, but they almost certainly are not being evil or malicious. They are in a daily fight for survival and we humans arguably pose a bigger threat to them and the survival of their species. Of course, that’s hardly any comfort to someone that finds himself or herself being attacked by a shark. But a bit of knowledge goes a long way towards dispelling unreasonable fears concerning sharks and shark attacks.
I am not encouraging you to handle a spider or a scorpion, to dive with large predatory fish, or to lock yourself into a dark, confined space to get over your fears. What I am doing is recommending that you click on the link below, read the post, and consider how education and solid information can help us in dealing with our fears. Consider it part of your Halloween season homework.
“How Understanding Can Disarm What Scares Us: A Halloween Reflection on Fear and the Power of Curiosity”
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