I heard once before a great way to look at an aspect of love,

Mercy is only mercy when the receiver of the mercy doesn’t deserve it.

-unknown

As I look out around the world these days I see a lot of fear.  Some scared of others, some scared of themselves, yet others are fearful of foods and guns, animals, nature, and certain places in the world.

It may seem like they are nothing at first glance and some may say they are not afraid of those things, but if you really look at it you will see in a lot of ways you are. As am I at times. So what I am about to say is just my thoughts and my take on the world.

Let me give you an example and you will quickly see where I’m going with this.

For example: when you watch the news and they say now they have found evidence linking a certain disease to a certain mosquito, the first thing you do is go out and get mosquito repellant. Next you change your plans and not go to the summer Olympics in Rio.

The decision to do or not do something based on the news usually is based on a fear response. This fear based response is what most mass media news outlets are going for. This adds drama to their news casts which bring more viewers.

There are a couple of subjects that will bring more views without even trying. Those include the following: Sex, Drugs, Violence, and impending DOOM. All under the guise that they are just telling you what is going on in the world first. But I submit to you the intent is to keep you watching.

I believe the news makes the news! I’ll leave that right there. Do with it what you will.

Shall I continue?

Ok, now on to control. If they, the news, has your attention they can now pump fear to create a reality of their choosing for you.  This is the reason a lot of governments and other organizations don’t like live video and right now timelines on social media. They don’t want you to have faster access to the truth than they have to misdirect it by changing the story to suit their agenda.

If you think people don’t have agendas you must be too young or you are just naive.

With that being said, I would like to quote a song from my teenage years that I listened to a lot. If you know it say it with me, ” there’s a war going on outside no man is safe from – you can run but you can’t hide forever – from these streets that we done took – your walking with your head down – scared to look – your shook! Cause ain’t no such thing as halfway crooks.” – The Infamous Mobb Deep

You have to realize you cannot live your life with your head down hoping these things aren’t true or hoping they would just go away. You have to be the change in the world you want to see.

Many may say they don’t know where to start. You start right at home, in your family unit. Even closer to home than that start with yourself and what you tell yourself. Make sure when communicating with others always say what you want vs what you don’t want. That is knowing yourself, however many people don’t know themselves that is why they are easily “shook” when these mental control attacks take place.

When you know yourself you know what you want in life. You know what you are good at and what you can do better at. You are stable in your attitude and demeanor. It doesn’t mean you are an optimist or think everything is fairies and rainbows, unicorns and money trees. But there is a healthy does of reality (meaning not oblivious to the events in the world) mixed in with a positive mental attitude, looking for solutions to the root cause of issues that are plaguing the sphere of influence you have.

All I’m saying is fear is the opposite of love and you have to love yourself and your neighbors (not just the one that lives beside you but also the one that is standing next, across, beside, and behind) as yourself.

The thought I want to leave you with is if truth be told we cannot love others because we don’t love ourselves, which is why we treat others outwardly the way we treat ourselves internally with fear, reproach, and condemnation. Crabs in a barrel. You cannot be happy because I am not happy.

Remember you can be anything you want and that includes loving, caring, and happy which roots out fear.