ISRAEL

love to be loved by someone and to let the system win love
--Meir, Male, Israel

To be like everyone else.
To be different.

To be lonely forever.
Never being alone.

To be unable to love.
To be unloved.
--Anonymous, Female, Israel

I used to be afraid of many situations and truths. I think that they are the only things we really fear: truths. About our selves and the world that surrounds us. Being jewish, and having an amazing interest in jewish and other philosophy, I now only fear G_d. This may put off a few from what I might say afterwards, because of a stigma of closed-mindedness by many that are religious. Although I feel that I'm quite open-minded. I've just come to different conclusions.
Fear, is the feeling that holds us back from completion. It pulls us away from taking the final step. We can plan our lives all the way, but we can never see the reality that awaits us so when finally it comes to doing what we planned, no matter how logical it seemed to us prior, we are scared. We think to ourselves, "oh man! What am I doing? Was I born in a cave? This is never going to work!" Not true of course. We knew perfectly well the day before that everything was going to run smoothly.
Where is the link with truth? It is in the fact that, we are scared that "we" won't be able to pull it off. We are afraid that we aren't that good. As much as we may try to persuade ourselves before walking up those steps, or into that exam room, we don't have that confidence on our own.
The same applies with a fear of heights or a fear of the dark. We have a thousand pictures of what could be behind the the sheet of black that we see before us. Only one is true. The way it is if we think with our logic a little. Well that's the way I always used to get rid of the fear.
On a more spiritual side, we can know that what will happen, will be what should happen, walking backwards is very bad. I see fear as a control placed in us by outsiders. By other people that do not want us to do all that we are capable of. Which is "so" much. To release oneself of fear is to achieves a clarity of thought that enables us to explore the true power of mankind. A lot more powerful than any man made device, from planes to guns to drugs.
I think it's a big shame that people feal it good to have a little bit of fear in their lives. It prevents them from truly exerting themselves. Life's an adventure, and a big test on all of us to see which way we'll choose. Do you want to watch the television at home, and let others go through all that? Or do you want to live to your maximum, putting yourself to the test every minute of the day? Restricting yourself within certain life boundaries to achieve a higher spirtual level, or pushing the boundaries of intelligence to see just how much you can do (without forgetting one needs to sleep!), or seeing just how much your body is capable of. I think doing all three is fun if you can find the time.
This all sounds fun I'm sure, but in the end, one must always fear He who created us, and not break his commandments, as much as we can.

I would be interested to hear what you think if you have the time, you have my address. Good luck in your search!
--Eddie, Male, Israel

horses
--Koby, Male, Israel