Just in time for Halloween. Fear may be the most useful of all our emotions. Our ancestors fled and hid from dinosaurs and that fear often kept them from becoming a meal. Fear of starving, going without shelter, or food is great motivation to get us to work smart and hard. And, fearing the wrath of God can keep us from sinning.
But misplaced fear can be a monster. When we act on our fear of others because they don’t look like us, think like us, or because they come from a different place than us we ruin our chance for true connection and unity. We violate the commandment to love our neighbors as we love ourselves…and that’s a dangerous state to exist in.
The thing we should really fear is the tendency we all share to view those not like us as monsters.
Beware anyone attempting to play on your fears.
The minute they see me fear me, I’m the epitome of public enemy…Chuck D