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Kashish Singh
ELA 10 H
Mr. Lundstrom
January 11, 2016
The Fear of The Unknown
All fears come from the unknown one way or another. When all living beings dont know
whats coming or are uncertain about an outcome then the natural reaction is to fear. But that
doesnt mean that its a bad thing to be afraid. However, its important to understand where fears
come from in the first place and how to deal with them. Its also good to know how they affect
people and society in many different ways.
To begin with, what exactly is fear? Well its being afraid of something or someone that is
likely to be dangerous, painful, or threatening. But of course this covers a broad spectrum.
Thoughts, situations, people, objects, etc. can all cause a sense of fear that also covers its own
range. And we feel it all throughout our lives. Sometimes its small things like worrying about
like if we did our chores and sometimes its big things like if a loved one will be alright. But the
most important thing about fear for anyone is that its something that shouldnt consume you.
After all its nothing more than a response.
Fear is a survival tactic that is built into our species. You are all familiar with the
fight or flight syndrome, and that is where your fear originates. In the early days
of mankind, the human body's fight or flight syndrome was meant to protect you
from the dangers in your environment. Today, however, your fears often center
around emotions rather than physical dangers... although your body does not
know how to distinguish between the two. (Gross)

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But, how do you exactly deal with fear? Well its something that often depends on the
individual themselves. Someone may find reading or writing a good way to deal with things
while another may take a walk. And sometimes it feels like things dont help at all. And if you
cant learn how to deal with it then it can paralyze you can have quite the impact on your life
while also causing a lot of stress that you probably dont want in your life. The key is how to
manage and mitigate that fear so that it doesnt paralyze you from acting on your own behalf and
for your own well-being. (Gross)
So when does fear happen exactly? Well its not really that simple. Anything can cause a
fear to anyone. Someone may not like the dark whereas someone else may not like having a dim
light on/ But sometimes there are places where fear tends to be more active. After all you dont
usually have a reason to be afraid if you feel completely safe. One of these places is the
workplace. Every day there is something to be done and expectations to be met else there will be
severe consequences that someone just wont be able to deal with. But that doesnt mean that
fear is something that you need to make sure never happens. Again this all relates to the
unknown. We all fear what may or may not happen because we just dont know whats going to
happen. But fear doesnt have to be something so dangerous to someone. fear also makes many
people more alert. It sharpens your focus and rededicates your job performance. (Sills) Its
better to be afraid of something but know how to solve it and use it rather than just sitting there
and doing nothing. And in the end the unknown isnt always a bad thing. Some of the greatest
inventions sometimes came from accidents and risks.
So then why do we even need to fear something in the first place? Wouldnt life be much
easier if we werent afraid? Perhaps it would be however, it is impossible. To be completely
devoid of fear means to know exactly what is coming and how to deal with it. If there is no

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unknown element to life and everything is obvious then what is even the point of fear in the first
place? At the end of the day all living beings main goal in life is to survive. Someone who is
unafraid of a giant boulder rolling towards them would have less of a reason to do all they can to
get away from it as quickly as someone who is terrified. Its all about flight or fight. Even things
like adrenalin can happen when youre afraid to get you ready to either take the problem head on
or to run while you still can. And in the end no one knows whatll happen if you do something
but then again thats the point of fear in the first place. Its there to help you make a decision
when you need to make one when you dont know what youre facing. But the biggest thing
about the unknown is that you learn from them and keep learning. As any mother knows, very
young babies have remarkably little appreciation of the danger of falling from a height; left for
themselves, for example, they will crawl right over the edge of the bed. Gradually, however, a
proper caution emerges. (Gray 11-12)
So how does fear affect us as a whole then? For an individual it can change a lot of things
or be something very minor but what about society as a whole? What happens when hundred,
thousands, or even millions of people fear something? Well with that many people there is a need
to have the problem that the fear is causing to be solved. After all, if the thing that is causing the
fear is gone then things are easier. One simple move is to equate fear with efforts to escape or
avoid the feared object (Gross 33) Running away or avoiding something is what animals and
people do all the time. When someone strange looking is walking towards you at night then you
want to avoid said person. But as a society there is less of a feeling of being helpless if
something goes wrong. Therefor anger is usually a stronger response than the urge to flee.
But is that always a good thing? Usually people tend to rash decisions when they are
angry. Someone whos angry is more likely to start hitting a threatening figure then turn and run.

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And also when people are angry, they dont want to know about the unknown things that are
making them afraid. They just want to get rid of it. A prominent example of this in todays
society is the treatment of Muslims through the United States of America, England, Canada, the
European Union, and many other places due to the threat and fear of terrorist organizations. Not
all Muslims are terrorists who want to destroy peoples values, its a very simple distinction to
understand and yet people refuse to learn because they fear and hate what they dont know. If all
unknowns lead to fear, then fear can lead to either depression or anger. And with society it is rare
to reach a large state of sorrow unless a nation is on the brink of pure disaster. So the easiest
thing to do is to fear with anger.
To build on that, how do you then remove fear from society? Well theres two ways. Deal
with the object of the fear and get rid of it, or understand the reason behind these fears until they
arent that scary anymore. Unfortunately, in todays day and age many feel its easier to get rid of
something rather than to understand it and step over it. After all its easier to throw all your
garbage in one place rather than go through the effort of salvaging recyclables even though one
is better for society as a whole. And if people refuse to learn than ignorance begins to form. An
ignorant person who fears can be a lot more threatening to themselves and others than someone
who understands. And when society together is ignorant then people may very well end up
getting hurt for things that they dont deserve or are related too. Even Rome, one of the greatest
empires to ever exist, started to crumble when the people of its nation gave into fear and let
others manipulate it for their own use.
But sometimes there are other fears that grow from a society for different reasons. All
fears come from not knowing and sometimes thats exactly what some nations want. An example
of this is North Korea where much information on the outside world is intentionally kept away

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from its people so that its easier to make them easier to control. But fear also, oddly, makes
some of us more cooperative. (Sills) And what better way to control people with fear? Angry
people just lead to rebellions and trouble while a knowledgeable society knows how to overcome
fear and the one who wants to control them. But controlling a society with fear makes it so that
they are easier to predict and manipulate. Back to the Islamic terrorists, they employ fear tactics
all the time from posting gruesome execution videos on the internet, threatening messages to the
public and government, and direct attacks on people. And this is all to cause fear and panic
which makes people easier to manipulate. And in the end it is up to the people to overcome the
unknown both in their regular lives and in a society to overcome fear and live life to the fullest.
To state it all simply, fear comes from the unknown. And while some may argue that this
or this causes fear, in the end it can all be traced back to not knowing something. When you fear
for someone its because you dont know whats going to happen to them. When you fear doing
something wrong it comes from not knowing how severe the punishment will be and what itll
do to you. But in the end it is important to understand fear and how to control and overcome it to
live life to the absolute fullest anyone is able to. So stop being afraid and learn more. If you cant
beat it then step over it and move on. After all you have your whole life ahead of you and its
time to live it as best you can.

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Works Cited
Gray, Jeffery Alan. The psychology of fear and stress. CUP Archive, 1987. Web. 11
January 2016. <https://books.google.com/books?
hl=en&lr=&id=nww5AAAAIAAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR6&dq=psychology+of+fear&o
ts=rnAq8vUew_&sig=wy1VWStZtBdwtE8ZNuRmbb12JDg#v=onepage&q=psy
chology%20of%20fear&f=false>.
Gross, Dr. Gail. "The Psychology of Fear." The Huffington Post 17 July 2015. Web. 11
January 2015. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-gail-gross/the-psychologyof-fear_b_7813594.html>.
Sills, Judith. ""Working Through fear: from mild uncertanity to impending doom, the
mood at your workplace is likely darker than usual. How is anxiety affecting
you and your coworkers?" Psychology Today. July-Aug 2009. web. 11 January
2016.
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