I think there are many decisions governed first by fear and then eventually, hopefully, by common sense. Fear is a natural response to a real threat to our lives, homes, jobs, and anything important to us. Fear can literally save our life or the life of our family or friends. It can force us to leap forward to confront the impending disaster and find an escape route to minimize the threat or find a way to cope. It is nature's way to increase adrenaline to protect ourselves.
Fear can also be a response to an unknown, unidentified and terrifying specter of a perceived disastrous, impending doom. The issue is that we are afraid of a concept that that is not real. It takes common sense to investigate the fear and break it down into manageable facets that we can begin to determine if our initial response is based on reality. Is it something we can deal with if we plan a coordinated systematic approach to minimize the impact of the possible disaster? Is it, in fact, not a threat at all? Is the adrenaline rush wasted and a detriment to our bodies and health?
Individuals can become overwhelmed with fears, real or imagined and become "paralyzed with fear" and have difficulty coping with daily life decisions. Nations can become "paralyzed with fear" also and have difficulty coping with decision-making that can affect millions of people and multiple countries.
We can become so fearful that we retreat from making decisions and allow the non-decision become the decision to let life make decisions for us. We lose the control of our own destiny because we allow fear to keep us from trust and positive interactions. Fear takes away our power to move forward and make awesome changes to make our personal world and THE world a better, more compassionate place.
Fear can become the handcuffs on our collective souls. Not if we don't let it. Not if we trust God.
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