I have always liked what Franklin D. Roosevelt had to say about fear. I bet you know the quote:
The Only Thing We Have To Fear Is Fear Itself
It turns out that Rosa Parks, pictured, also had something rather profound to say about fear:
"Must" is a pretty tough word. "Must" means that something is inevitable, that it has to happen, or that it has to be done, or that it is required.
Think about it for a minute, though. While the laws that govern the "World of Nature," upon which we ultimately depend, do state "inevitabilities," we live most immediately in a "Human World." In that world, "possibility," not "inevitability," is what we find, and the fact of our human freedom puts the lie to virtually every "must" that comes to us as a command from some external source. In the world in which we most immediately live - the world in which we either act, or don't act - there aren't any "inevitabilities." There aren't any absolute requirements. There isn't any binding "must." Whatever exists can be changed, and our "freedom" is something upon which we can rely. "Must" is our "choice." It is never an actual "requirement."
Our boss may tell us that we "must" come into work on a holiday. No, we don't have to do that, though if we don't, we may lose our job. A teacher may tell us that we "must" get our paper submitted by the due date specified. No, we don't have to do that. Of course, if we don't, we may fail the course.
The United States government may tell a young man that he must report for military service, and go off to war and kill the people whom the government says must be killed. Not really true. That young man doesn't have to do that. He can refuse. Take it from me. I know.
In fact, think about Rosa Parks. The bus driver told her that she must move to the back of the bus. But she didn't do it. She refused. And you know what happened. Rosa Parks' decision to refuse to do what she was told that she "must" do helped change the world.
Given what Rosa Parks actually did, in Montgomery, Alabama, how could she say that "knowing what must be done does away with fear"?
Well, I think it's pretty clear that Rosa Parks was talking about knowing, with certainty, and for oneself, what you, as an individual, with individual freedom, have decided you will do - or refuse to do, as the case may have it. When the "must" is not what someone else is telling you that you have to do, and when the "must" comes from your own determination and your own choice - that's when we conquer fear.
We do have choices to make. Every day. Every hour. And there is no "must" that eliminates our human freedom, our ability to choose what we will do, or refuse to do. Doing what is "expected," what we are told by somebody else that we "must" do, may be a strategy that we hope will eliminate fear, but it's a failing strategy unless the choices we make - the choice to act, or not to act - is our own choice.
Once we tell ourselves that we know, for ourselves, what "must be done," that is when fear is defeated.
Roosevelt put it in a national perspective. All we really need to "fear" is the fear that is inevitable until we make a decision about what we will do - which means what we will try to do.
Back in May, I cited Jessica Craven's claim that "fear" comes from "False Evidence Appearing Real." The "false evidence" that so often "appears real" is almost always a claim that says that we are NOT free, that something bad is inevitable, and that something bad will happen. If we ever think that something bad will happen, that it's "inevitable," that's when we are afraid.
Once we have decided what "must be done," and when that statement means not that we have been told what must be done by someone else, but when we have made our own choice about that, and have decided what we will do...
That's when fear goes into the rearview, and all we see is what's ahead, and what we know that we "must" do - must try to do. That's what Roosevelt was talking about.
That's when we are fearless.
Thinking about now... Facing what we face in the future (I'm talking socially, politically, economically) please let us learn what "must be done." We know what challenges and dangers we face. Let us discover what it will take for us to become fearless now!
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