Entry #2-Extended Definitions

Extended Definitions-Blog Entry #2

Fear:

There were a couple of definitions in the dictionary that caught my eye more than the others. “A distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined,” and “Extreme reverence or awe, as toward a supreme power.” The first definition specifies that you are afraid of impending danger, evil, or pain. These are all things that are normal for humans to fear. On the other hand, the second definition is pretty much defining people being afraid of someone in high power like a president or other type of ruler.

Fear is something everyone is born with, no matter how tough you think you are there is always something that’s going to scare you. That’s why it’s defined as a distressing emotion. You’re born with this emotion just like you’re born with the emotions of happiness, sadness, anger, or boredom. I think they have made up a name for just about every type of phobia possible now. I mean there are over 100 phobias that begin with the letter A. There are phobias for people that are afraid of any thing from books (bibliophobia) to a fear of ugliness (cacophobia) to a fear of the great mole rat (Zemmiphobia). My favorite phobia has to be the fear of long words which is properly titled, and I quote, “Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia.” Myself, I have a few fears just as anyone else does. Thanks to the American government, we don’t have to live in fear of a tyrannical dictator like Saddam Husain.

To fully understand the second definition I had to actually look up a word that was in the definition, which didn’t make much sense to me. I had a pretty good idea as to what reverence was, but I decided to look it up to be sure. Reverence means with deep respect. So what that definition is saying is that fear isn’t only being afraid of someone or something; fear could also mean that you have extreme respect for someone resulting in fear. People in third world countries fear dictators, but dictators may not be the only possible person for someone to fear. Other possibilities could be something smaller like your boss. Maybe you live in fear of your wife or the leader of the Mafia. You could fear any one of these things.

When I first read the list and saw fear on the paper, one thing came to me instantly “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” (FDR). This is a pretty accurate quote. Sometimes the only reason we fail at something is because we are afraid that we’ll fail.

Of course my biggest phobia is the dreaded Dorfmeisterphobia!!