Extended Definition Essay : Fear

Fear is what makes a man a man. Acknowledging our fears proves we are not cowards, but that we are brave. Accepting and admitting them takes a huge act of bravery. What is fear and how can it strike at men's souls and make even the strongest of them cower? It can kiss your soul with the brush of butterfly wings, or grasp you and shake you till you are thoroughly rattled.

Fear is a man from the shadows. Trailing after us, slowly, but surely. He walks gracefully behind us. Sometimes he catches up to you, and sometimes, he's right in front of us. He is tall and hides his face from us. His body is wrapped in a black cloak. Darkness seems to surround him, and us as he gets closer. The only feature we can see is his mouth. Always in a devilish smile. His voice sounds like that of a rebel angel; soft, powerful, dark, and oh so tempting. His greatest power is his ability to shape shift. He can be a gun one day, a bug the next, or an image of what we don't ever wish to see.

He surrounds me day and night. Twenty - Four Seven. There is no escaping him. Whispering to me what I see in my nightmares he opens his arms as if to embrace a long lost child. When I do not submit myself to him, once more he opens his cloak. Cold wind nips at my toes. Eats at my entire body. Behind the cloak is not a body. There is nothing. There is only darkness, and a mirror. He aims the mirror at me and finally I see what I don't want to see: I see myself standing in my front door. Littering the floor are the bodies of my loved ones. Cockroaches over their distorted bodies. I open my mouth to scream but his mouth clamps over mine. Feeding on my terror and horror. That's when the cloak falls from his face, and I realize that fear is not a man. No, it is a girl. Me.

Fear comes in many forms. Sometimes, it could be butterflies in your stomach. Racking your body with nerves. Other times it can come in the blood that warms your cheeks because that boy or girl seated a few seats down catches you staring at them. Or it can grip your heart, and not let go. From heights, to bugs, to a color, to a sound, to an image, or even towards Death himself. But for some reason, mortals, and immortals alike, seem to all fear one thing: themselves. We are scared of ourselves. We turn away in the mirror at our own reflection. Are we disgusted but what we see? Maybe, maybe not. Asking are we afraid of ourselves is like asking : are we afraid of the unknown? We are unknown to ourselves. We cannot know our limitations until they are finally pushed over the edge. And still, can we truly know what they were?

In song, there are lyrics such as : ''A sanctuary, my sanctuary yeah...Where fears and lies melts away...Our fears, our lies...Melt away...All I fear means nothing .'' Utada Hikaru, (English) Passion; (Japanese) Sanctuary, Kingdom Hearts II theme song. It makes me think that there is place that we can go, where are fears die, 'Melt away'. Miss. Utada Hikaru sings, ''All I fear means nothing.'' Maybe this is true. Maybe our fear is just that, nothing. Being scared of something doesn't mean anything. It is simply a human reaction to the world we live in.