A great majority of worries is akin to the minor dilemmas received as life and death situations, including job interviews, homework assignments, social predicaments, and family disputes. Amongst the stream of possibilities, the possibility of failure reoccurs. The dreams many hope to sculpt into reality do not stay isolated to the minds of the young. Children and adults alike aspire to reach certain self-appointed goals. Unfortunately, the possibility of failure constructs timed explosives from even the smallest of aspirations or tasks, wires them with simple choices in the form of multicolored threads, provides the set of pliers, and steps back to see whether or not lives will be saved or taken. These “little things” act like precious passing seconds while trapped underwater. Even the most mentally stable can suffer only so many before finally drowning.

            Although fear carries a negative connotation to most, a minority view fear as an invaluable tool. The judicial system has constructed a device commonly known as an interrogation room that displays this facet of fear. A person knows they are under a knife when they awake to find themselves helplessly bound to a chair in a room that screams solitude and tension, lit only by a bulb bright enough to illuminate the silhouette of another figure. Desperate to rid themselves of the pressure and tempted by the offering of a painless way out, people suddenly become much more willing to spew secrets they would otherwise be reluctant to disclose when forced into such a scenario. Unfortunately, utilizing fear is not a talent held solely by those with moral intentions. Although mischievous and corrupt, fear can also become a weapon used to force agreement with even the most twisted ideals. The Taliban, the group that mercilessly controlled Afghanistan for five years, spread their white plague through vulgar, public displays of their self-appointed right to power over the people. Conquered by dishonest tactics, the voices that disagreed stayed silent. In both cases, fear becomes the pick to the most complicated of locks.

            Fear shifts shapes, taking the form of the gun at the head of the man spilling information to avoid the spilling of his own blood, the specters whispering to insomniacs, life’s most tragic accidents, or the possibility of failure. The reaction drawn by these things establishes the constant we know as fear.