Letting Go of Fear

Toward a More Equal America, Part 12

Fear
False Evidence Appearing Real
That which we believe keeps us safe
Makes the world far more dangerous
While keeping us small
Keeping us miserable
Diminishing our confidence
Diminishing our power.
 
Fear controls us
So that we wish for control
And when we wish for control
Those who wish to be in control
Have their wish granted.
 
Fear occupies a strange place
In our collective psyche
Not revered
Yet not questioned
We might view it as harmful
Yet we do very little
To speak against it.
 
We chastise those who incite violence
Or who incite hatred
While those who incite fear
Spread their fright-words far and wide
From Twitter accounts
And news hours
And halls of Congress
To nary a peep of dismay.
 
If we are going to have a chance
To rebuild trust in each other
Trust in democracy
We are going to have to do something about fear.
 
This doesn’t mean pathologizing it
Judging those who are frightened
Or anxious or stressed
There is no shame
In being afraid.

At the same time
It is high time
That we recognized
That fear is bad for us
Like cholesterol or corn syrup.
 
Fear is both addictive and harmful
A psychological nicotine
That can be added to ads
Stuffed into stories
Ramping up ratings
And inspiring us to buy
What we do not need.
 
Contrary to popular opinion
We do not need fear
To keep us safe.
 
We do not need to fear a virus
To make choices
That will prevent it from spreading
But if we fear it
Then we will fear each other
And our fear will tear us apart.
 
We do not need to fear death
For there is nothing that we can do
That will grant us immortality
And so our fear
Can only diminish our experience of life
In our days in the sun.
 
Politics has become infused with fear
On both sides
And so we seek to control and destroy
Bringing ourselves ever closer
To the fascism and socialism we fear
Those being two sides of the same coin
The Nazis were socialists, after all.
 
Driving ourselves closer to a loss of democracy
Dividing families and communities
Straining the fabric of society
So that even fires and floods
No longer bring us together.
 
It is time for us to recognize
That this fear does not serve us
That it will not help us to accomplish our goals
That it will not bring us closer
To the equitable society that we seek.
 
In fact, it seems quite clear to me
That this fear is intended to divide us
That this is not just about sales and ratings
But about keeping us small
Keeping us divided
Keeping us from rising up
And demanding our democracy back
From those who seek only wealth and power.
 
So, I say
I am done with fear
Will you join me?
Will you accept that I do not wish to harm you
Even if we disagree?
Will you accept
That this world is big enough
For all of us?
 
Can we begin instead to rebuild trust
Starting local, bridging divides
And breaking free
From this two-headed political monster
That seems determined to steamroll our humanity
Beneath the wheels of the corporate wealth machine?
 
Can we begin to elect those
Who are simply citizens
Who are not career politicians
Beholden to moneyed interests?
 
Can we tell the Davos crowd
That we don’t appreciate their meddling
Their meetings and schemings
To design a future
In which they feature prominently
And we are controlled and pacified?
 
We inhabit a representative democracy
A constitutional republic
So we need not change the laws
Or stage a revolution.
 
We need only slough off the fear
Escape from the narrative matrix
Reclaim our voice
And choose only those
Who speak with that voice
To represent us.
 
It is time to see where we are headed
A world in which we sacrifice liberty for safety
And in the end have neither
A world that Democrats and Republicans alike
Are leading us toward.
 
It is time to build a government of, for, and by the people
With an economy of, for, and by the people
With liberty, equality, and justice for all
We cannot do that if we are afraid
Of each other, of death, of climate change
Of ourselves.
 
If we are to build a better world
We must choose love
And let go of fear.
 
Let us begin.
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