what are you afraid of...

...a question which gave me pause

and a book i decided was interesting enough to me - to join others in a book club setting to discuss it - but have you considered the question - what are you afraid of:

-the dark
-earthquakes
-noise
-fear itself
-spiders

apparently - gallup takes polls about these kinds of things all the time - using a cross-section of both adults as well teenagers to name their top fears - it was interesting to me to note - the adults seemed bent more towards mundane types of fears (not that i'm negating them) - while the teenagers listed the kinds of things which are more life altering... take a look:

adults:
-snakes
-heights
-spiders/insects
-dogs
-thunder/lightening
-the dark

teenagers:
-terrorist attacks
-death/being killed
-being a failure in life
-war
-heights
-crime and violence
-being alone
-nuclear war

surely this speaks to the current environment in which we live - our surroundings - the life circumstances we find ourselves facing today - versus how life was lived perhaps 20 years ago - children today are expected to deal with issues - subjects - far beyond what they should - what i tend to think or believe a typical childhood should involve - i was, frankly - dismayed - to read - that teenagers are fearful of nuclear war - that seems like such a heavy burden for such a young thing to have to face - yet we all know bad things can happen - we read of them every day in newspapers - hear of them on the television - we cannot isolate ourselves - but i also believe we cannot allow fear to rule our lives - over run it - we need to face our fears - know we can conquer them - have faith to believe there is good in the world to overcome - and in so doing - we will experience...

a

happy day.....