Week Two: Facing Fear

“Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.”  (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

“Feel the fear, then let it go.  Jump in and do it – whatever it is.  If our instincts and path have led us there, it is where we’re meant to be.”  (Melody Beattie)

“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood.”  (Marie Curie)

The afternoon before I flew to Mexico, my best friend called from Ghana, where she was working on a volunteer project with her husband.  She had asked how I was feeling about the journey looming before me, and my response was: “fearful.”  Fearful of my complex route down to Mexico; fearful of the pervasive violence and corruption and disconcerting travel advisories for Mexico; fearful of all the unknowns.  I can’t remember her exact words, but the crux of her message came to be my mantra of this pilgrimage: to live a life in fear is to a live a life without faith. 

I deeply respect the people I work with and serve here.  Their lives are devoid of fear and bursting with faith, even in circumstances that seem to offer no hope at all.  Employment opportunities are severely limited here, rendering many people jobless and without any guarantee of securing basic amenities.  The kids I care for and teach during the week have no assurance as to whether or not they’ll be returning to a safe home or be given a hot supper at the end of the day.  The agency itself, FFHM, teeters on a tight budget, leaving the staff in charge of the various departments to operate just from day-to-day.  All the lives around me could be consumed by fear—that a job won’t come through, that it’ll be another night of hunger, that certain services will become incapacitated … But instead of choosing fearfulness, they choose to have faith that the unknown will become known; that needs will be met; that their prayers will be answered.

Inspired by the incredible attitudes of people who have virtually nothing, I see that most of my own fears are trivial or unnecessary.  In looking back on all I've feared in my life, everything has worked out.  And for those patches of my life that still need to be worked out—they will.  It just takes faith.  I ask myself this, and you as well: What really do we have to fear?