Fear Challenges Modernity

daddy long legs spinning its' web from the ceiling 8 legs of terror, to 8 years of life as a kid. monster under the bed hurry, big terrible eyes, gleaming at me from the dark unknown corner. go wake your mother from her slumber, Dad must rest. modern fear is 17 dead in parkland at the hands of a madman, yet mental illness should not be the cause of FEAR. Fear, fear, fear, what do I - a young girl have to fear? sexual assault, being told I lack authority because I am a female. Do not! shrink the power of my gender identity, I do not fear the tall white men who believe their distress must stay hidden beneath their black engulfing suits whispering degrading slurs about our temples-our bodies because fear is weakness, and what is weakness if not a delicate flower ripped from its deep roots in the soil? weakness is not the white man! the all-consuming, terror-inducing mastermind behind fear is you. Only you allow yourself to be afraid when we find enough strength in love and hope, nothing will hold us back -Katherine Beth