Irrational Fear||Rationality
in the Face of Fear
Son,
Is there any way it is rational to fight a
lunatic? Would you have imagined I had ever decided to fight a mad man? Let me
share with you a small story. I lived in Abeokuta one time, and in the district
where I lived there was a lunatic (as with all the neighbourhoods in Abeokuta).
This guy always walked about with a stick along the road median. It happened
that on this fateful day, I had crossed one side of the road to the median,
when I saw him coming. He was armed with his stick and was wielding it with a
fierce look on his face. I thought he even pointed it at me one time as he
started marching towards me determinedly.
Naked fear hugged me tight and I began to
sweat. I decided to quickly cross over before he reached me but the speeding
oncoming traffic made it impossible. Beating a retreat to where I came from was
far more impossible. It was me and a lunatic in the middle of speeding traffic.
Fear told me to get away as fast as possible. Attempting to cross at all costs
will definitely result in an accident or worse get me killed. To what end? That
I was running from a lunatic? What was I to do? I then decided if this guy
attacks me or tries to push me off unto traffic we were going to fight.
The mad
man got closer and with each step he took, it was getting clearer that a fight
was imminent. My heart began to pound and sweat dripped off my eyebrows. I
acted aloof yet I spied on his approach with my side eye. I’m all for peace but
I won’t be caught off-guard and I decided I couldn’t come and die in Abeokuta over
something as worthless as this. Today I was going to run mad since Yoruba
people say when you fight a crazy person, bystanders won’t be able to say who’s
sane between you two. When the crazy fellow got to me I waited for his attack
but surprisingly there was none. He just passed as fiercely as he had come. Boy
was I so relieved.
Imagine if I had attempted to run away and had
gotten knocked down? And had died? You’d have no daddy, one and I’ll spend my
heavenward trip regretting why I ran away or you’d have a crazy daddy who got
crazy because a car hit his head. You see, most of the things we are afraid of
are actually not coming our way or even if they were, are powerless to hurt us.
If the danger is coming our way and it is capable of causing grievous harm,
only a rational plan will get you to safety. Even running away yields the best
results when you plan your escape well. When you get afraid it is important
that you don’t lose it to panic. Remain rational.
Save for fear of physical harm which is a
natural thing, most of the things we fear happening in the social realm world
rarely come to pass or even if they do their effects are not as bad as we fear.
For example when I was younger, I had a morbid fear of speaking in public or
addressing groups of people. I usually feared something embarrassing would
happen, which actually never happened (save for the day one dude pulled my
trousers on stageJ), this irrational fear stopped me from sharing
my thoughts with people for a long time and making meaningful friendships.
Likewise, I had this stupid fear of visiting Lagos
alone. A friend of mine was mugged there once and I thought if I went there I’d
be mugged too, how silly. Due to this fear I passed up many opportunities of
visiting Lagos, but when I eventually got over this irrationality I enjoyed
several trips to Lag. And while there nobody mugged me.
I was also going to write about women in this
paragraph but I think I have changed my mind. I’ll just conclude instead.
To be afraid is not actually a bad thing; it is
a natural flag that warns me of impeding sticky situations. Allowing fear to
push you to panic is what is stupid. In the face of fear, it is important to
remain calm and think logically however hard it may be.
I hope you've learnt something.
Lots of love
Your Dad.
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