SENTINEL WATCH April 24, 2006 Issue

DRIVEN BY FEAR?

ELAINE FOLLIS

WHEN A POPULAR TALK-SHOW HOST said on the air recently that most of the choices people make are driven by fear, he really caught my attention. I began to think, People do stay in jobs they don't enjoy because they're afraid of poverty or unemployment. Some of my college friends married people they knew were not exactly right for them because they were afraid no one else would come along. On occasion, I have even bought overpriced clothing I didn't find attractive, simply because I was afraid that otherwise I would be out of style.

I have to conclude the TV host has a point. But something inside me rebels against the idea of being driven by fear, even in little decisions. The thought of so many people enslaved by fear in that way strikes me as an issue deserving serious thought and prayer.

One of fear's basic slogans is "What if?" It's an invitation to speculate about scary prospects, about circumstances or conditions that don't exist at present but presumably could. It's important to realize that this fearful speculation begins with un-reality—with conditions that are not yet factual and may never even come to pass. What if is hardly an auspicious starting point in the effort to discover what is.