June 6: Irrational fear
I am afraid of bananas. I don't know why. I just am. I don't like to
be in the same room as someone who is eating one. I even hate seeing
people eat bananas in movies. I don't like this about myself because
bananas are good for you.
My hatred of bananas probably stems from my childhood. There was a time when I loved bananas but at one point, something inside me snapped. I haven't eaten a banana in more than 30 years. I won't eat anything with bananas in them and, whenever I contemplate experimenting with a new kind of fruit juice, I always scan the label to see if bananas are listed among the ingredients.
My fear of bananas is irrational. Most fear is irrational.
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In high school, it was explained to me that every emotion can be traced back to love or fear. "What about hate?" I asked. "Hate stems from fear," was the reply. In the ensuing 30 years, I have discovered this to be true.
Racism stems from xenophobia, which is humanity's innate dislike of anything different. Trust me, if aliens landed on planet Earth, the only people who would be friendly with them are six-year-olds. The rest of us would be worried that the aliens were here to kill us or take our oil or rob us of our cable TV. Two of these would probably be good things. Sometimes, I think that the third thing would be a good thing too.
It's been said that slavery is the foundation of America's current, albeit fading, economic dominance. After slaughtering the red people, white people built up the country by forcing black people to work for free. They did this because they were able to hate black people, which means they feared them.
I am willing to admit that I am as full of malarkey as any backstreet hustler you could ever hope to meet. I am not a sociologist. I am not a historian. I took a psychology course at Mount Royal College en route to getting a theatre arts certificate. In short, I am ignorant. But I'll share my two cents anyway. The older I get, the less concerned I am about looking stupid.
I think white men feared black men because they were worried their women would find them more desirable sex partners. They didn't want the black folks to rob them of their "inherent right" to produce "pure offspring." Of course, they felt no guilt whatsoever using the slave women to satiate their own sexual needs. This was probably their way of "proving" to the black folks that whitey had won the great Social Darwinian Sweepstakes.
Even today we find people who are against mixed breeding. I have also met a number of black men who enjoy bedding white women "on principle." "I'd never marry a white woman," one of them told me once. "But I sure don't mind getting nasty with them."
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I used to be afraid to let my brother play Impossible Mission on the Commodore 64. The reason I gave was that the Commodore was dying and I needed to keep it alive long enough for me to finish writing my novel. The real reason was that I had amassed a high score of 4600 and I didn't want anyone beating it.
-
Most people who join online dating sites have an irrational fear about other people finding out. I guess it's because of this preconceived notion that competent people should be able to find suitable dating partners simply by navigating the waters of everyday life. Only silly shy people need a computer for it.
-
99.9 per cent of people have an irrational fear of street mimes. They seem to think the mimes will pester them.
-
My friend, Camille, used to have an irrational fear of being touched by Prince cassette tapes.
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I like to think that when Jesus told his disciples to fear not, that He was also telling them that hate is a harmful thing - at least when it comes to dealing with people.
-
I used to be afraid of going into the haunted house rides at the Calgary Stampede. I was scared that those were real ghosts and witches and devils in there and that they would hurt me as my little cart rode along the track.
I am still afraid of haunted house rides at the Calgary Stampede or any other carnival.
Same reason.
-
My one-year-old son has a fear of the bathtub.
My dad's dog is afraid of playing cards.
My cousin, Joelle, used to be afraid of this inflatable walking robot I had when I was a child.
My Aunt Sandra is terrified of birds and my mom is afraid of mice.
Our old dog, Gizmo, used to be afraid of open doors, being touched when she was on the stairs, fireplaces, popcorn machines - pretty much everything.
-
The most irrational fear of all is the fear of failure.
The most rational fear, we are told in the Bible, is the fear of the Lord. I would submit that we should also fear wasting our lives.
The best way to waste your life is to be afraid of failure. Or hard work.
My hatred of bananas probably stems from my childhood. There was a time when I loved bananas but at one point, something inside me snapped. I haven't eaten a banana in more than 30 years. I won't eat anything with bananas in them and, whenever I contemplate experimenting with a new kind of fruit juice, I always scan the label to see if bananas are listed among the ingredients.
My fear of bananas is irrational. Most fear is irrational.
-
In high school, it was explained to me that every emotion can be traced back to love or fear. "What about hate?" I asked. "Hate stems from fear," was the reply. In the ensuing 30 years, I have discovered this to be true.
Racism stems from xenophobia, which is humanity's innate dislike of anything different. Trust me, if aliens landed on planet Earth, the only people who would be friendly with them are six-year-olds. The rest of us would be worried that the aliens were here to kill us or take our oil or rob us of our cable TV. Two of these would probably be good things. Sometimes, I think that the third thing would be a good thing too.
It's been said that slavery is the foundation of America's current, albeit fading, economic dominance. After slaughtering the red people, white people built up the country by forcing black people to work for free. They did this because they were able to hate black people, which means they feared them.
I am willing to admit that I am as full of malarkey as any backstreet hustler you could ever hope to meet. I am not a sociologist. I am not a historian. I took a psychology course at Mount Royal College en route to getting a theatre arts certificate. In short, I am ignorant. But I'll share my two cents anyway. The older I get, the less concerned I am about looking stupid.
I think white men feared black men because they were worried their women would find them more desirable sex partners. They didn't want the black folks to rob them of their "inherent right" to produce "pure offspring." Of course, they felt no guilt whatsoever using the slave women to satiate their own sexual needs. This was probably their way of "proving" to the black folks that whitey had won the great Social Darwinian Sweepstakes.
Even today we find people who are against mixed breeding. I have also met a number of black men who enjoy bedding white women "on principle." "I'd never marry a white woman," one of them told me once. "But I sure don't mind getting nasty with them."
-
I used to be afraid to let my brother play Impossible Mission on the Commodore 64. The reason I gave was that the Commodore was dying and I needed to keep it alive long enough for me to finish writing my novel. The real reason was that I had amassed a high score of 4600 and I didn't want anyone beating it.
-
Most people who join online dating sites have an irrational fear about other people finding out. I guess it's because of this preconceived notion that competent people should be able to find suitable dating partners simply by navigating the waters of everyday life. Only silly shy people need a computer for it.
-
99.9 per cent of people have an irrational fear of street mimes. They seem to think the mimes will pester them.
-
My friend, Camille, used to have an irrational fear of being touched by Prince cassette tapes.
-
I like to think that when Jesus told his disciples to fear not, that He was also telling them that hate is a harmful thing - at least when it comes to dealing with people.
-
I used to be afraid of going into the haunted house rides at the Calgary Stampede. I was scared that those were real ghosts and witches and devils in there and that they would hurt me as my little cart rode along the track.
I am still afraid of haunted house rides at the Calgary Stampede or any other carnival.
Same reason.
Uhhh... I'd rather get a mushroom soup enema, thank you very much.
-
My one-year-old son has a fear of the bathtub.
My dad's dog is afraid of playing cards.
My cousin, Joelle, used to be afraid of this inflatable walking robot I had when I was a child.
My Aunt Sandra is terrified of birds and my mom is afraid of mice.
Our old dog, Gizmo, used to be afraid of open doors, being touched when she was on the stairs, fireplaces, popcorn machines - pretty much everything.
-
The most irrational fear of all is the fear of failure.
The most rational fear, we are told in the Bible, is the fear of the Lord. I would submit that we should also fear wasting our lives.
The best way to waste your life is to be afraid of failure. Or hard work.
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