Fear

I picked up the paper this past Wednesday, and found the Opinion page.  After reading four articles, I realized they all had a common theme: fear.  Four fears in four articles: fear of pain leading up to death, fear of shattering comfort zones, fear of racism, and fear over ebola.  Was this a deliberate grouping by the newspaper?  I don't know, but it really matters not.
Some fears are worked for evil (such as demonstrated in the racism article I read).  Other fears are used for good and are useful for life.
Where does fear come from?  Is it caught or taught?  I can only answer "both".
G. K. Chesteron wrote the following in Tremendous Trifles:

"Fairy tales, then, are not responsible for producing in children fear, or any of the shapes of fear; fairy tales do not give the child the idea of the evil or the ugly; that is in the child already, because it is in the world already.  Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey.  What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey.  The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination.  What the fairy tale provides for his is a St. George to kill the dragon."

So, how do you help young children to grow and develop in this fear-filled world?  How to you teach them to overcome their fears?  Allow me to offer a few suggestions.

1. Read to them, and don't stick only to the soft, pansy children's literature.  Read the classic fairy tales from the Grimms.  If you're really daring, find a copy of Roald Dahl's book of fairy tales.  Read The Chronicles of Narnia, the Harry Potter series, or even St. George and the Dragon.  As you read, you will have the opportunity to teach them when (not if) they ask questions.
2. Let them watch good movies, like the three from The Chronicles of Narnia.  Watch Percy Jackson.  "Oh, that's too scary for my kids."  Are you sure it is not too scary for you?  Watch it with them so you can be a good parent and guide, commending the good, pointing out the bad.
3. Read the Bible to them.  Teach them a whole different fear, and not a bad one at that--the fear of the Lord.  "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge" (Proverbs 1:7).
4. Teach them to know Jesus.  As the old saying goes, "No God, know fear; know God, no fear."

Fear is a reality--the good, the bad, and the ugly.  Don't run from them; face them in the strength of the Lord.