While on his first inaugural address to the American people on March 4, 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd American President said, “The only thing you should Fear is fear itself.” By saying this, Roosevelt was warning Americans not to have even the slightest association with fear if they want to get the best out of life and overcome the most pressing social-economic problems America was facing at the time! He was addressing a congregation that was ardently enthusiastic about exploring their possibilities and making value out of every step, and he realised that the greatest challenge at the time was overcoming the fear of the unknown. Today this warning makes a lot of sense because of the immeasurable negative impact fear has had on our society. The phenomenon of fear and its outcomes do not only manifest themselves as a psychological disposition automated by adrenaline, but also as a condition that cripples a person’s ability to think straight and creatively out of a problem. The bible says that fear is from the devil and goes ahead to warn brethrens against it. This on divine principle is the mother of all grave sins a person can ever commit because it first kills one’s conscience. A man who has committed a homicide, probably accidentally or out of a strong emotion, will go on to kill more people who he fears to have seen him do it, with an intention of erasing potential witnesses, just because he fears the aftermath of those people’s testimonies. Viewing it from a political perspective, fear has from time immemorial had a depressing impact on the populace that has embraced it, and more agonising is the fact that governments have always been behind the use of fear against their people with a conspiracy to realise political ends, forge solidarity against its enemies and other uncouth schemes. Fear replaces reflection with panic and impulsive actions, and that’s the time when all considerations of values and ethics are abandoned and overshadowed by a subtle need to feel safe, that’s why it becomes easy for a populace under fear can easily be channelled to horrible actions by the leaders, like it was the story behind people’s manipulation by their government to participate in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi’s, which also manifested itself in the Nazi’s hatred indoctrinations. Fear is not the way of the Good. When fear is justified, it is still regrettable-- it focuses attention on those aspects of the world that are not benign. When fear is not justified, it reduces people to lesser beings --more foolish, more selfish-- than they would otherwise be. And it makes them more ready if unwitting instruments of the will of the evil. Viewing it from economic lens and the wealth accumulation aspect, fear if not dealt with can water down a person’s investment motives and bars one from exploring the infinite possibilities a head of humanity. Fear of taking risks is one of the overriding blockades to wealth accumulation and proper living, and it is those people who have managed to overcome their fears that have gotten strong and become successful system owners which in the end have moved the world around. It so happens that after the mind has conceived a business idea; Fear slides its way in by corrupting the person’s mind with pessimistic innuendos of ambiguity and difficulty. After it has conquered, It fills a person head with conclusions like ‘ I cant break through this stiff competition’, ‘Am going to lose this money’ hence the feeling of ‘may be I should wait’ or ‘Let me drop it’, This goes on until the idea is dropped and the investment not done. Fear is therefore one of those detrimental conditions that has robbed our society untold magnitudes of wealth and barred us from enjoying life to the fullest, since it deprives humans from the greatest good of happiness. Therefore as we strive towards societal construction which is an ongoing process, we should look forward to making our people more resistant to fear such that by the end of the day history will not judge us as people who conditioned the populace to fear more, but instead told it that the only thing to fear is fear itself. Contact: Gahimore@yahoo.com
