4-5-98 Last night, at around 12:00 A.M., I was walking into my room to go to bed and it was dark. Now, I know this may APPEAR childish, but I was afraid of the dark for a small moment. This got me thinking, 'Why is a 16 year old afraid of the dark?' And then that made me think about fear in general. Psychologists have attributed racism to fear of the unknown. I'm writing this to add proof to their theses.

Why are we afraid of the unknown? Is it because we can not be certain of what lies ahead? who may be lurking in the shadows? the uncertainty of positive results? Actually, it is all three. We are afraid of the dark because we can't be 100% sure of anything. And movies like Friday the 13th and Scream do not help! If you think back to, well, actually the entire history of humanity, what is one recurring theme? Racism! Why have we always been a race of haters? The answer is simple--we will always know what lies in those things we already experienced. But when you encounter an unknown species of people or an unknown effect, the natural reaction is to fear it or repel from it. I wish I had the elegance and vocabulary to more precisely portray my feelings.

So ask yourself, do you fear the dark? Do you fear others? What do you fear? Why do you fear it? Do not allow yourself to be answered by the easy answer. Truly search your mind for the correct answer, and if the answer disturbs you, do something about it! It's like voting---if you don't vote, you can't complain.

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