Even before we climbed down from the trees and took our first furtive steps on some primordial savanna, we were imbued with a healthy dose of fear - and for good reason too. Back then we were fairly low on the food chain, and as with all creatures, fear was not a luxury but a necessity for survival.
Fear, beautiful fear is hardwired into the very soul of our existence, so to treat it as an affliction rather than a healthy tool is, well - just plain stupid.
Fear has been much maligned in the media over the past few months by well-meaning sociologists and the leaders that hearken their clarion call, telling us that we are blowing fear out of all proportion. Yes, it has become fashionable to have a go at Fear, one of our only venues of release still open to us poor civilized grunts.
So just how important is it that we pay heed to these clip-board carrying, white-coated, scientific experts?
Break-ins, plane crashes, economic downturns - you name it, all are grist for the mill of an uncaring media-machine that spoon-feeds us as much fear as we can handle, and then some.
Here comes a new twist.
Through that very same media machine from which we take our daily sustenance of fear, pundits now point out to us that from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to sleep, society feeds us a continuous trickle of fear in all its deliciously horrendous manifestations, causing us to let our imaginations to run wild.
Yes, it has become 'sexy' to point out that the populations making up a modern society are afraid of just about everything, that our risk management senses are paralyzed by the continual intravenous flow of media-induced fear.
The fact is that populations of Western-style societies are likely to live more comfortable and longer than any in the history of our species, and in an environment so safe that any savanna-stumbling ape would gladly hit you over the head for the same privilege, ought to give these folks a clue as to why fear is such an elixir to us.
This is the crux of the matter:
We absolutely, positively need the exaggeration of danger to survive our monumentally safe lives in order to retain our animal sanity.
Truly, the mass-media is the sum reflection of all our fears. If fear was of no interest the population, do you seriously think media moguls would take the time and trouble to air the attempted rescue of some little girl at the bottom of a well? Well?
Do you think media is some kind of divorced entity or conspiracy that floats above us, controlling our lives? Really? Really?
Could it be that we needed the Cold War, we need the terrorists to add salt to an otherwise deadingly bland, safe existence?
Yes, of course these can be truly uncontrollable threats that can and do occasionally cause great upheaval, but could they not also be vital components that have to be present in order to retain the artifice we call civilization?
If it is so then relax folks, enjoy yourself without feeling you have to keep your fear in proportion. Kick back and be afraid. It's OK to be afraid of strangers. It's all right to hesitate about letting little Johnny go play outside. It's healthy, it's good. Fear is one of those lovely mental tools that help us manage the art of surviving in a less than perfect society.
Don't be ashamed if you can't risk-manage your fear. By its nature, fear is the realm of the unquantifiable, the 'got your back' buddy of chaos. So go ahead - be afraid - and tell them so-called experts where they can stick it!