Someone taunted me, recently, over my “fear of childbirth,” and it got me thinking about what I do fear. She also said something very profound, that “what we get accustomed to [don't fear] is revealing.” Absolutely. I must not fear death by car accident, very much — enough to wear my seatbelt and follow traffic laws and be hyper-vigilant about my kids’ carseats, but not enough to stop driving.
I don’t fear skin cancer, very much — enough to insist on sunscreen, hats and unrevealing swimsuits for myself and my family, but not enough to stop going to the beach. I don’t fear bicycle accidents for my girls, very much — enough to insist they wear helmets, but not enough to make them stop riding. I don’t fear the effects of caffeine (probably something I should fear), because I continue to drink Mountain Dew.
I do fear drug dealers who are making crystal meth more appealing to young first-time customers by cutting it with sweetening and softening agents. I fear that enough that I think again about homeschooling. On the other hand, I fear that in 50 years my greatest contribution to society will be that I cleaned up after and chauffered around four hooligans. I fear gun violence and representations of violence in the media — enough that I’ll censor what comes into my home, but not enough to tell Sally that she can’t go to college.
I don’t fear childbirth, very much — enough to get the best prenatal care available (and take the best prenatal care of myself that I can) and to plan to be within arm’s distance of the best medical science has to offer, just in case, but not enough to stop giving birth.
I think, maybe, a little fear is a good thing. What do you fear?
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I fear cockroaches.
well, what diseases can you get from cockroaches? i worry more about mice and mosquitoes. sure, cockroaches are gross, but, what can they do to you?
When we moved to Oklahoma we found cockroaches in our apartment. We looked up all the diseases they cause on the internet and found they cause salmonella, staphylococcus and streptococcus. They harbour viruses such as the polio virus and food poisoning germs on their bodies and are responsible for the spread of dysentery and gastro-enteritisenteritis. Contact with cockroaches can also lead to allergic illnesses, including dermatitis, urticaria (another skin disease), rhinitis, bronchitis and asthma. When we looked all this stuff up on the internet I couldn’t sleep for days and hated getting up to go to the bathroom in the dark for fear they were crawling around my feet! They are sick and creep me out!
nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! why do you tell me these things? we have cockroaches living behind our dishwasher. sometimes they crawl in our dishwasher, with the clean dishes. how do i get rid of them without using toxic chemicals? or maybe i’ll just use the toxic chemicals while we’re in utah.
I fear that my computer will crash and I’ll loose all of my millions of pictures, but not enough to invest in an external hard drive. I have some saved on CDs but I’m aftaid they’ll melt if my house burns down. I should take them to my mom’s house, but what if her house floods? At least my blog will be on the internet and I’m too naive to believe that it could all crash too.
I fear chemicals and pesticides and bug killing stuff, but I’m more afraid of the cockroaches – so we have a bug guy and he comes when we’re not home so I pretend it’s magic that bugs don’t come around much.
Shannon
Your aunt Mary who lives in Texas and has dealt with cockroaches for many years told me that the best way to get rid of cockroaches is with boric acid. you can buy it anywhere and it is completly harmless to humans and pets and yet it cuts cockroaches up when they walk on it. sprinkle it all along the baseboards, cupboards or anywhere they may go. I’m getting ready for Georgia so I’ve researched this because I have a fear of cockroaches too. I have greater fears than that too, but maybe I’ll write about that later.
Sylwia
Um, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cockroach. My biggest animal fears are rattlesnakes and cougars–both of which have been seen in my parents’ city–ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Marcy – maybe you don’t want to know, but we saw three cockroaches at your house yesterday. Totally kidding, I just can’t resist teasing someone who has never seen a cockroach. Maybe it was so traumatic that you blocked it out. We had lot of fun with you guys!
I knew there were good reasons for me to fear cockroaches, besides the fact that they are just really, hideously ugly. We haven’t had too many recently, though Brock found a dead one in the attic yesterday. I think I might look into that Boric acid.
Ha! Does Utah even get cockroaches?
Seriously, I’ve become a much more fearful person since having kids. I fear that when I go up in the helicopter for the first time with Adam we’ll crash and leave our children orphans.
I used to fear sun damage so much with my babies that we’d stay inside most of the summer. Not to mention the mosquitoes. (I heard you keep a dryer sheet in your pocket and mosquitoes stay away. I’m going to try it!!!). My friend’s child got what they think is West Nile Virus and now cannot use his arms at all.
I’m lightening up now. I agree that a little fear is ok–we shouldn’t be reckless–but when it stops us from doing certain things and enjoying life like we should be doing it’s called paranoia!!!
I absolutely loathe cockroaches! I used to dislike pronouncing the word! And i’ve really been trying hard to get over it!?
I’ve evolved to not fearing the small ones , but the large ones scary the wits out of me! I even pasted paper over a picture of it in my bio book!
Problem is, I have a cockroach dissection for Zoology, and i have to attend three sessions of the horror fest! (I had no choice with the subject btw!, I’m a computer geek on my way to computer engineering)
I could skip it , but thats going to cause a little trouble for me. That aside , i think we might have it for our exams! So I’m actually thinking of attending it hoping it will scare the fear out of me!? But i kept thinking about it all day yesterday, and spent the last half hour trying to find something on the internet!
Could someone help me!
Gideon