Editor's Column: Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.

I'll be the first to admit it – I'm a scaredy cat. No, really, I mean it. I'm afraid of a lot of things, tangible and intangible. Take, for instance, zombies, a fear which I think stems from bad childhood experiences, namely the video for Michael Jackson's "Thriller." Once, when I was kid, I ran out of my own birthday party at McDonald's (tell me I'm not the only one who's had one there – come on, there weren't any Chuck E. Cheeses by my house) because they started playing "Thriller" … the song. Not even the video. Yeah, it was that bad. I like to think that I'm slowly but surely overcoming my fear of zombies. After all, I've come to like the "Thriller" video and I thoroughly enjoyed Dawn of the Dead. But looking at it in retrospect, it could just be wishful thinking. Chills still run down my spine when Vincent Price's voice comes on, and the version of Dawn of the Dead that I saw was the 2004 remake, not the original, which is supposed to be ten times scarier.
And then there's other stuff, too. I'm deathly afraid of the dark, I shudder at the thought of demonic possession, and I run from any insect that can potentially sting me. I fear death (not in consideration of my life as so much in the consideration of loved ones I'd be leaving behind), I shrink in the presence of large audiences, and at risk of sounding even less "manly" than I might already, I'm scared that I might not ever fall in love. Believe me, I'm cutting this list short for the sake of this column, but I think I've made my point.
But, so what? What exactly is wrong with being afraid of something? It's a shame that fearlessness has become something of a valued trait in our society, because, in a way, the things that we're afraid of are part of what makes us different from one another. One could make the argument that phobias place a debilitating limit on one's life and are, as a result, a bad thing, and I don't disagree.  However, what I'm more concerned with is the bad rap that phobias get, because the only "bad thing" about phobias is the way people deal with them. When you let phobias rule your life, that's when they become something negative.
Same thing goes for fear. There's absolutely nothing wrong with being scared. I mean, it's a natural human emotion. Animals rely on their instinctual fear for survival. So do we. So why has a seeming lack of fear become a point of bragging rights in day-to-day conversation, especially among males? Gentlemen (and select ladies), let's be real. You're really not fooling anyone but yourselves. If you're even doing that. Which you're probably not.
We Boston College students are a courageous bunch for a number of reasons. We've chosen to brave the cold of the Northeast instead of basking in the sun that some other southern-dwelling college students enjoy. We chose to challenge ourselves with a rigorous academic curriculum instead of perhaps settling for an education a bit less strenuous. A number of us even take on numerous responsibilities outside of the classroom, whether it be working in University offices, performing in culture shows, or representing the student body as the Undegraduate Government of Boston College (UGBC) president.
Is this to say we are without any kind of fear? Of course not. But we do these things anyway, because, to put it somewhat simply, we care. We want better things for ourselves, our friends, our families, perhaps even our school, and we won't let being afraid of something, whether it's failure, rejection, or pain, get in our way. Fear may be an important part of us, but it does not define us. And we shouldn't let it. But, at the same time, we shouldn't ignore it either. You wouldn't ignore the sound of your stomach growling, now, would you?
In his first inaugural address, Franklin Delano Roosevelt told Americans that "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Well, I'm gonna go ahead and say, in my first editor's column, that the only thing we have to fear is a lack of fear itself. Because when we stop being afraid, we stop caring and we lose the ability to experience one of the most beautiful parts of life – overcoming something that challenges us. Because that's all that fear is – one big challenge. And as anyone can tell you, there's nothing quite like the feeling you get after you've climbed the proverbial mountain.
In an ideal world,  nobody would have to be afraid of anything. But we don't live in an ideal world, so I guess we've got no choice but to embrace it. All we can do is fear on.