“The Parents of Cruelty”

Jerome Gabutero Gacu

Have you ever experienced while you are brushing your teeth, the door squeaks and you take a glimpse and found nothing? Suddenly, you faced the mirror and imagined there was a white dressed woman staring at you. Or are you afraid of falling in love because of what happen in the past experience? Are you afraid to tell the truth in a complex situation?

We experience these things because it is in our human nature to be afraid or to feel fear. It is often that our brain plays tricks on us, that we are forced to believe on things that doesn't really exist or on things that make us believe that it was so threatening, painful or dangerous.

Having fear is one of the ingredients mixed thoroughly in the human being. Fear is a feeling that is stronger than love. It is a feeling experienced by everyone and is definitely unavoidable. Every people were afraid of something. For sure, everyone here possesses one or more fears in their heart. It’s impossible not to have one.

Way back in high school, my teacher taught us that there are two kinds of fear: the normal fear and the abnormal fear. Both may seem so similar. The only difference is its context.

Normal fear focuses on our senses. It detects our fear in the way we perceive things. Phobias such as fear in blood or hemophobia, fear in a spider or arachnophobia and globophobia or the fear in balloons could be some of the examples of this.

Meanwhile, as we go along our inner side, abnormal fear talks about emotions. We tend to be afraid of losing your best friend or someone who is special to you, afraid of being criticized and afraid to fall in love. The extent and range of fear of every human, however, varies from person to a person.

Between the two kinds of fears I have mentioned, the latter is the one that is harder to overcome as it attacks your inner side. Most of us have this kind of fear because we wanted things to be perfect as we think of it. That is why; committing mistake could be a drastic call for criticisms of others and yourself.

One can spend a lifetime trying to conquer all his or her fears and never triumph, but it does not mean that we should not try. We should not face. We should not deal. Facing our fears also mean facing ourselves. We don’t have to avoid our fears. Instead, we have to face them! Everyone must have enough courage to take another step in dealing with possibilities because running from them only makes our problem worse and so what if we fall and stumble? We just have to stand firm and try again. Mistakes are thought to break us. But in contrary, it actually builds us and makes us stronger. Mistakes redefine our personality. There is no other way but up, we just have to try. Failures are always considered as experience. You may now fail, but you will end up of trying it again until you gain success.

Fear is dangerous, yet it is our option. Whatever kind of fear it is, still it is a fear. But these are all normal. It can ruin one’s life and dreams. We cannot escape from them; we just have to face them. It can always be real if we let it be. But this is only an obstacle, a small hindrance in life. Now, the question is, what are you afraid of?