I Fear your Fears... I Pray for a Solution.

“The only thing we have to Fear is Fear itself!” - Franklin Delano Roosevelt, March 3, 1933

After the events in my home state of South Carolina this past week, I am starting to realize that I Fear the Fears of others.

I have become afraid of those who fear:

• racial equality
• Democrats, Republicans, Liberals, Conservatives....
• gender equality
• losing their “right” to own weapons that are for more than hunting a meal
• religious equality
• letting go of a cultural past and moving forward as a people/ as a species
• The Government
• ANYTHING DIFFERENT/ ANY CHANGE

Why can't we get past the negatives and focus on the positives in life? Is it the media having to fill air time, blowing the negative events in our word out of proportion? Is it the internet continuing a never ending conversation regarding the evils in our world thus creating a mob mentality? Is it just plain Fear?

What has happened to Faith? I do not just mean Faith in God, but Faith in ourselves and Faith in our fellow humans. For most of us, wonderful things happen every day, but they happen so frequently we take them for granted and neglect them. Occasionally something bad happens and it's all we can focus on for days or even years; I include myself in that “we.”

I believe that most of us want to live in peace. Am I naive? Maybe I am a bit. Yes, I am aware that evil exists in this world and that there has to be someway to defend ourselves from it. But where does it end? I believe that evil is purely the Fear carried in ones soul.

• The religious extremists who are blowing up people of other faiths are afraid.
• The homophobes bashing Gay Marriage (aka “Marriage”) are afraid.
• Those who wear a pistol at all times to “defend themselves” are afraid.
• The racially motivated man who killed nine people at a prayer meeting was afraid.

From what I can tell, Charleston is handling this as best as can be expected. There has been no retaliation or riots or exacting revenge. Instead, there are expressions of faith, a joining of communities and an attempt to understand and forgive. I pray to God that this will help.

As a child, when I had to deal with bullies, I was told “bullies are mean because they are afraid.”

Have we ever really lived in a world without Fear? Can we make it better for our children?