Diagnosis: Fear

Today while at work with no functioning e-mail, I got the chance to really thoroughly read through some of the more interesting magazines that cross over my desk through the week. Among my stack was a magazine named "UTNE" with a great, informal and confident picture of Obama on the cover pointing his finger, his eyes shaded by Ray-bans, as if to say "you and I, we'll make it happen".
There were some really great articles in this magazine, all of which I wish I had the time and energy to respond to, but one in particular prompted this blog. The title "FEAR ITSELF", written by a Julie Hanus, and on the opposite page, the picture of a man bombarded by common fears such as terrorism, crime and germs. The objective of the article seems to be to uncover what it is that fuels our fear, how it affects our daily lives, and the consequences we suffer for living with such fears. It seems like commonsense to say that we all fear something. I fear losing my job, as do many others. My best friend has a fear of germs and keeping her children safe. It's interesting to me to think about what fuels these fears and what kind of decisions we then make based on them.
Granted this article has nothing to do with music, but it does have a very significant impact on our society and I think, in turn, this affects how we relate to our music.
Throughout the article the writer compares how we once handled fear in past generations compared to how we now handle our "comtemporary" fear. She explains that in the past, fear would pull together communities, "They were a source of shared identity and engendered camaraderie and trust." Our past generations used fear to being their communities together, forming a great dependence and trust with one another. She furthers the arguement by pointing out that today "The individual way we've come to experience fear contributes only to isolation and feelings of helplessness. Instead of seeing support or solutions, we add to our grim roster of perceived threats." Truthfully a well made point.
Over the past few months I have given a kind and attentive ear to a few friends who have voiced many of these concerns. Instead of looking at each situation as an opportunity to rise above, they simply hold their nose as the water overcomes them and give in. Someone or something is always responsible for the laundry list of issues we face each moment of our busy days.
"One explaination for the incapacitating nature of contemporary fear is that our brains simply are not wired to process modern life." But what is this "modern life" that is referred to here. What makes our modern life something that our brains are not capable of handling? Is it all the blackberrys? the overwhelming pressure of society from every aspect of life to feel a sense of acceptance and validation? Each day we watch the news and are bombarded with images of car wrecks, missing children, and disease only to then lie in our beds and create our own spinning web of fears.
A great example of how these fears affect our daily decisions would be the undeniable feelings we all conjured up after the events of 9/11. It is reported that for 12 months after 9/11, most people heeded a warning from their guts to avoid flying, thus putting millions more on the roads. In that one year, the fatalities due to car accidents rose and an additional 1,595 people lost their lives. Another great example "When out guts tell us not to let children play outside unsupervised, the sedentary lifestyle that ineveitably results exposes kids to a host of health problems far more dangerous than the slim probability of abduction". Children that are left in home are more apt to be consumed by television, video games and other mind numbing types of activity. This type of lifestyle not only creates a higher risk of obesity but also a lazy and unmotivated ethic. Children that are not encouraged to be outside, taking advantage of what the world has to offer, I feel are more likely to take it for granted in the future and less likely to feel motivated in other aspects of their life as well.
Another issue that so many people consume themselves with ignorantly would be germs. Our bodies have been built to be able to fend off general germs such as the common cold. Yes, sometimes we get sick if we let ourselves lose sleep or we don't treat our immune systems with the respect it deserves, but our bodies have evolved to be able to fight these bugs. It is very clear that we, as a society, are overmedicated and too lazy or impatient to take the time to simply care for ourselves. It is reported by Mother Jones that today there is more than 9,000 types of antibacterial products on the market, with 2,753 introduced in 2007. The Food and Drug Adminsitration did conclude in 2004 that between basic hand soap and antibacterial soap, neither was better at preventing infection. "Sales of antibacterial chemicals are projected to reach $930 million in 2009". $930 MILLION! That is insane. And for what?! so that we can train our bodies to never be able to fight off the common cold? And then people ask me why I chose a glass of water without the tylenol when I get a mild headache.
Our television has single handedly been able to reach into our homes and play with our most deperate anxieties. Even completely fictional law or criminal based shows such as Criminal Minds tend to lay blame on those that are not "fearful enough".
The author brings up an episode of the Daily Show With John Stewart, pre-election, where voters were rallying with fears worn on their sleeves. Reporter John Oliver concludes "There's no red America, no blue America. There's just one scared shitless America". I remember watching that episode, probably the one episode of the Daily Show I every really paid attention to and thinking what happened to us? what happened to a people proud of themselves, hard working and confident? Everyone waves their American flags and pumps their fist for our country but then runs home to cower behind their Lazy-boy, just hoping to make it to tomorrow.
Sasha Abramsky writes in an issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education "After centuries of tenchological progress, we think we can glimpse the promised land. We can envision a world in which cancer is merely a coldlike nuisance, in which stem-cell research banishes Alzheimer's, ... But the world today is far from a utopia. My guess is that we have become so fearful at least in part because we fear our intoxicating future's being snatched away from us".
A very clear, self explainatory point. We're spoiled. Recently, a great deal of New Englanders lost their power to an ice storm, some for lengthy periods of time. My parents were out of power for 6 days, and thankfully, we're New Englanders, this has happened before so we turn on the generator, light a few candles and cook dinner on the gas grill. but after 6 days my mother just said "This is getting really old" and I said to myself it's amazing to think we're that dependant on something, on anything. I can even say the same thing for my work today. Our e-mail is down and without it everyone has gone home, without the e-mail, there is basically no way to get work done. How is it that it has come down to a company not being able to function simply because we're not able to get an e-mail. Granted it completely cuts off communication, and with our music industry, communication is pretty much all that we have to go on.
"It's a bittersweet silver lining, but economic pains could provide just the sort of galvanizing force we need to recalibrate ourselves towards solidarity." This is, if we as one community are willing to give up our fears and work together as a team, which to me is doubtful. Call me pessimistic, but we don't have a good record of being able to get along with one another. With fear already taking over our country, Obama has been able to "make good on politics of hope, though, the American public must continue to demonstrate the resistance to fear they showed by electing him."
The article advocates an interest in learning our human nature, accepting our susceptibility to "misjudgments and miscalculations". We, as a people, need to remember what we are made of. We tend to take ourselves to seriously, and cower in the presence of humility. We have to learn to be grateful and compassionate, sharing these wonderful attributes with others, in learning to release our overwhelming sense of fear. But we must not completely let go of our sense of fear. Our instincts serve us well and we do have the ability to judge our situations and their risks with intelligence and sophistication. "When something doesn't quite sync up, gut to head, then it's time to pause and at least question what's causing the discrepancy".
Someday we may be able to let go of allowing our individual fears to define us. With giving up our fear, we "free poiliticians from fear inducing rhetoric or stymie fearmongering marketers..."
If we could take the opportunity to release these anxieties and concerns, we could take a larger look at our lives, putting our role into perspective and seeing how far we have come as a people.
We still have so many big steps to take, but releasing the fear makes way for hope to move ourselves further along.

So this has been quite lengthy and I apologize if I have bored anyone, but I must admit that this article really reached out to me. As I stated early, I have been approached by friends and family members with situations of such fear and anxiety, and I can sympathize, I have these moments of my own. It's very hard to be able to advise someone on how to be able to let go of these feelings in such a high pressure society, especially when I myself am not completely able to do so. I always try to remember that when I'm worried about what other people are thinking about me, 9 times out of 10, the other person is worrying about the same thing. And if they are sitting by making their judgements about me, they are also judging themselves, comparing their insecurities against my own. Our society has truthfully fed a generation of fearful adults. It seems as though we're always made to feel like our accomplishments are still not quite enough, our skills and talents are not enough to make us stand out in a pile of resumes. There is the need for continued education and experience in order to set yourself apart in the workplace. In personal life there is such pressure to be confident, unique and creative that even those who make the best friends and companions feel as though they can't quite live up to par, even though they try and teach us in middle school that we are all "special in our own way". And we are! We are all lovable, once we learn to love ourselves. We are all beautiful and intelligent as long as we can see ourselves in that light. So release the fear and find all that there is inside yourself as well as others. After that, the world is your oyster (as they say).