Halloween is this week, but we have more to be afraid of than ghosts and ghouls. We see real monsters on our screens every day. So we need to talk about fear and what we should do about it.
President Franklin Roosevelt said in response to another period of national crisis, “[T]he only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” The full quote in context is worth reading about how fear “paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” What’s worse is when people respond to fear with cynicism. They decide they can stop being afraid if they stop believing things matter. If systems collapse, institutions fail, and humanity as a whole succumbs to annihilation, so what? Even physical demise wouldn’t faze them. After all, death only hurts for a moment, and then it doesn’t hurt anymore.
I see both paralysis and nihilism as cowardly forms of surrender, especially when the people who are most vocal about rolling over and giving up aren’t even suffering at the moment.
I reread a post I wrote after Trump was reelected. Trump is not just as awful as I expected, he exceeded my worst nightmares. Tearing down a whole wing of the White House to build his Führerbunker/Versailles-style ballroom. Shutting down the House of Representatives to keep the Epstein files from being released. Letting millions on SNAP benefits starve (including many who voted for him three times) so he can triple their medical insurance premiums. Not even Project 2025 is as extreme as his ambitions and the ends he’s willing to pursue them.
What I was wrong about was giving up.
I’ve gone back to writing and book events. (I now regret bailing out of Loscon last year because I’m writing a novel with elements of science fiction and horror.) I’m still pitching Christina’s Portrait to find a publishing home for it. But mostly, I’m refusing to surrender my humanity to people who don’t see the value of anyone else’s life but their own.
When you go through hardships—whether it is physical danger, a life-threatening illness or injury, or when you’re so destitute, you don’t know if you’ll ever be able to pay for food or bills again—you are going through a character test. What are you willing or unwilling to do to survive? What will you sacrifice to get or hold onto what you truly value? The decisions you make not only determine whether or not you get through your hardships, but what type of person you’ll be afterwards.
We as a nation are facing a character test. Many have already failed, like politicians, corporations, and that lady belittling SNAP recipients while munching on burnt toast. The question is whether you will pass this character test. It depends on how you respond to fear.
There’s much to be scared about, but courage comes when we do the right thing anyway. We know courage is contagious. The more people stand up, the more others are willing to stand up too. That’s why the No Kings Day protests matter. Strength comes from building community, sharing resources, and organizing for further action.
And when fear leads you to action, you get to define what the future looks like.
We shouldn’t let fear drive us to paralysis or nihilism. It should drive us to action. I believe we’ll soon discover the monsters aren’t as scary as we thought. When we stand together and fight, the monsters will prove to be much more afraid of us than we ever were of them.
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Great post. Yes, fear causes paralysis. Both mental and physical.