“We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” So claimed Franklin D. Roosevelt during his inaugural presidential address of 1933. Which seems a bit rich when you consider that FDR himself displayed a lifelong fear of the number 13, a condition common enough to have earned its own handle - triskaidekaphobia.
(The rumour that his speech was originally due to run for another hour, but was interrupted when a prankster on the sidelines whispered, “Psst, Frankie, what does eight plus five make?”, compelling the President to run away and hide under a table, has never been confirmed.)
Today, October 13, irony fans, is national Face Your Fears Day, on which those of us with phobias, betes noirs, maybe even just a particularly hefty qualm, are encouraged to confront the objects of our aversions, thus freeing ourselves from the malevolent grasp they may have on our lives.
According to Beyondblue, up to 11 per cent of the Australian population is struggling with some kind of specific phobia. This is distinguishable from your common-or-garden fear by its basic irrationality. For instance, while a fear of venomous snakes and spiders, jellyfish, sharks, crocodiles, or the impact of El Nino and/or climate change may seem perfectly reasonable, given where we live, a fear of chins, sneezing in public or mosques clearly doesn’t.
We had Pet Obesity Awareness Day just last week, while next Monday brings the frankly terrifying prospect of Evaluate Your Life Day
And, listen, I’m all for people being encouraged to tackle their phobias. Those out there who struggle with crippling social anxiety or the distress that comes with the daily knowledge that the merest, most fleeting encounter with, say, a dog or a stalk of celery, might reduce them to a jelly (arggh! jelly!) are fully deserving of our sympathy and support.
Only, I think I may be developing a phobia of my own. The fear and loathing to which I refer is for all of these goddam national and international days of whatever. My fear is that our calendar becomes so filled with spurious commemoration, the demands on our collective awareness so relentless, that we lose the power to decide what to think about for ourselves.
I mean, we had Pet Obesity Awareness Day just last week, while next Monday brings the frankly terrifying prospect of Evaluate Your Life Day. And let’s not forget that the whole of October has been designated Pizza Month. I’m not making this stuff up, but many out there are (in the case of Pizza Month, it was Gerry Durnell, publisher of Pizza Today magazine - go figure).
Enough already!
The reptile houses of our zoos would be filled with giddy ophidiophobics (those fearing snakes), wantonly goading the inmates, or passing out with the effort
Apart from anything else, these occasions are dished out without considering the potential consequences. Imagine what might unfold if every phobic out there took up the gauntlet and actually faced their fear on this day. The reptile houses of our zoos would be filled with giddy ophidiophobics (those fearing snakes), wantonly goading the inmates, or passing out with the effort. Those poor souls who suffer from trypanophobia (fear of needles) would queue around the block to donate blood, placing unwelcome stress on medical resources, before they even started swooning.
While the rash decision of drivers who fear crossing bridges (gephyrophobics) to eschew their avoidance strategies and routes, just for today, could well end in calamitous gridlock.
And let’s spare a thought for the Islamophobes. For, if these unhappy people were to take up the challenge of Face Your Fears Day, they might find themselves actually having a conversation with real, live Muslims, and discovering them to be frail and flawed human-beings, much like themselves, perfectly capable of reason, and with a comparable, reasonable revulsion for all acts of violence and intolerance.
Come to think of it, maybe this facing your fears thing is not such a bad idea, after all.
Ian Rose is a Melbourne-based writer.
