Fear is Stupid

I believe that fear is both something that can motivate you to do something and can trump someone’s need to survive. People can use it to gauge to show whether they should do something, or it is something that people let control them and their actions. As a maturing young adult, I have faced many hard choices; it was fear for what others would think if I said ‘no’ to something that stopped me from saying yes and it was fear for another person’s safety that gave me the strength to say yes.

This particular weekend I am disclosing to you, has many ‘What if..’s that surely would have resulted in one less life in my life. It began as a way for my friend’s boyfriend to say goodbye to all his buddies before they all went away to school; she was to join him and bring girls that he said should entertain his friends. My friend invited me, and after much deliberation I decided to go. The first night was basically teens fulfilling their need to get wasted, not my idea of fun, but was apparently theirs. That night, I went to bed early hoping that this weekend would be over swiftly. When I awoke, my friend hysterically pulled me aside whispering quickly with fear. Apparently, last night, while not her first time having sex, resulted in blood that did not stopped since it began.

As I told her to go to the hospital with fear in my eyes of what could possibly be wrong she repeatedly proclaimed no saying her dad would find out, she could not pay, no one knew she was here, astonishingly the most important, to her, it would stop her boyfriends fun and fear he would no longer ‘love’ her. I had to drag, quite literally, her to the hospital after hours of contesting her illusory fear. Upon further emergency care, she was informed that she had ripped an artery and quite nearly bled to death; they had to put in three units of blood. Thankfully, I was there to override both my fear of losing her and her fear of ruining the trip, but what if I had not been? In this case her fear served no purpose.

There are also cases where fear just stops you plainly from doing something you want to do. Take for instance the fear of what others think. There has been many cases where I did not do what I wanted to because I was afraid of what others would think. I have not stood up for someone being talked about because I did not want to be next. But fear should not control you; you should still be able to think rationally when in the mist of fear. In conclusion, I hope you understand that fear while may be thrilling to others, but can halt a person from saving themselves.