When is fear ever a good thing?

Question

"Fear is hatred coiled in knots"--- Ancient Chinese Philosopher

What are we really saying when we fear something?

"Fear seeks power it can never harness."---
English Poet

" I never tell my soilders to carry any amount of fear into battle. It's an negative force. It strips a warrior of strength." --- General

"America was not founded on fear but on love for liberty. If we ever began to fear that liberty that our fore-fathers died for than America is no longer America."---Political Speaker

Is fear really an healthy emotion or an ailment that plagues modern society?

Answer 1

Fear is good when you are afraid of another Christian Conservative Republican president and it makes you vote Democrat.

Answer 2

Fear is a natural emotion - basically, it's your body telling you that you are in a dangerous situation and you should try to go somewhere safe. In the mean time, all your senses are alert. Fear can be a good thing, as it may cause an adrenalin rush. If you are running away from something, you might run faster than you could usually. Many people have done brave things that they would have had the courage to do under normal circumstances e.g. run through flames.

Fear can also be bad - fear of the unknown may cause people to be suspicious of those around them, and turn to leaders like Adolf Hitler. Racism and other prejudices are often the result of fear.

Answer 3

Fear is a good thing, it keeps you alive. In rare cases it gives you the motivation to do seemingly impossible things. When I was a young fella, another kid was out hunting rabbits, alone, he was pounces on by a cougar, but managed to get away. he was running downhill. Police went back to the site, which had a light dusting of snow on it just before the incident, and measured his footprints 12 feet apart, I doubt he could have run that hard had he not feared for his life. he did escape with a few claw marks in his back

Answer 4

Fear is the other side of courage.
They exist together in a balance.
Fear keeps courage from being rash and foolish.
Courage keeps fear from controlling and debilitating an individual and a society.
Fear may lead to education through exploration of that which is feared.
Fear then becomes a positive or beneficial thing.

May it all be well with you.

Answer 5

"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread."

Fear is good when it keeps you from doing something dumb and possibly harmful.

If somebody smiles at you and offers you a little white pill and says "Hey man! Take this. It'll make you feel sooooo good." it might be good to fear that pill and that person, esp. for somebody who isn't mature enough yet to have a common sense defense against that kind of danger.

If you're walking along and a big snarling dog comes at you, the fear that you feel might give you an extra boost of adrenelin to get away quicker.

I esp like your last quote: America was founded on love of liberty. I think we have a very VERY good reason to fear today, when we see our basic liberties being squashed and revoked one by one by this president, who seems to think he and his cabinet are above the law. I think we have quite a bit to fear and I hope that this fear makes us quick, like with the attacking dog, and does't paralize us in our tracks.

Answer 6

Fear, in the opinion of quite a lot of people anyway, developed to serve the same purpose as any other emotion. To keep us alive, and to guide us into helpfull actions.

Fear reminds us, and encourages us, not to go into dangerous places, not to play with dangerous people, not to do the things that make our parents angry at us. It stops us from risking too much when we're gambling. It can keep us alive.

Of course, if we were completely rational beings, then we wouldn't need fear to remind us, to control us. To 'condition' us. But human beings have never been entirely rational.

Answer 7

One famous soldier (I forget who) said he was only frightened once during World War II: from 1942 to 1946.

Fear is not the problem; your reaction to it is the problem. Soldiers who admit they are afraid but go on and do their duty anyway are better than ones that do not feel any fear and are reckless as a result.

Fear is your natural instinct for self-preservation. Panic only makes survival instincts fail. Gaining control over fear, not eliminating it altogether, is the real secret to survival.

Answer 8

Fear is worrying that someday we might get another Bush type who will do even more damage, if that is possible.

By the way, why do you quote so much? Don't you have thoughts of your own?

Answer 9

Fear is an in-built instinct that we have to avoid harm.

It may not be healthy, but it's there for self preservation.

And it works.

Answer 10

Yeah! In really dangerous situations it gives you the "fight or flight" feeling, choosing one of these could potentially save your life!