Michelle Obama Fear vs. Hope

In a utopian world doors would remain unlocked, children would play unsupervised in the street, and police forces would be unnecessary. As all Americans (over the age of 3) have come to realize however, we do not live in a utopian world, nor even a utopian country. Newspapers in every county throughout our country are filled with horror stories of murder, sexual assault, burglary and kidnapping, yet Michelle Obama says we have nothing to fear.

Fear is the reason this country is where it is today. Fear is a useless emotion. Don’t ever make decisions based on fear. Make decisions based on hope and possibility. Make decisions based on what should happen, not what shouldn’t. Don’t ever make decisions based on fear.

If Michelle Obama was speaking to a room full of elementary school children, those words would have been appropriate, a room full of adults should know better. Those of us who live in reality realize that fear is the most useful of all emotions as it prevents us from making poor decisions.

Although I could “hope” that my boss would not fire me if I were to miss work the entire summer allowing me to goto the beach, my fear is that he would not and I would find myself unemployed. Likewise, I could “hope” that if I were to take my rent money to Atlantic City this weekend I could double it, but it is my fear of losing that money and being evicted which prevents me from doing so.

Hope and possibility are wonderful things to be sure, but hope is an unrealistic emotion unless it is coupled with fear. Hope makes you feel as if anything is possible, while fear keeps your expectations reasonable. It is fear that makes you wear your seatbelt while driving, although you hope you will never need it. It is fear that causes you to worry when you see your child talking to a stranger, even though you hope that stranger means no harm. And fear is the reason the United States has the most powerful military in the world, although the hope remains that we will never need it to protect American soil.

John Hawkins once said ““liberalism is nothing more than childlike emotionalism applied to adult issues” and I think this statement from Michelle Obama epitomizes that. We can only hope that if Barack Obama is elected President, he does not follow his wife’s advice of making “decisions based on what should happen, not what shouldn’t”.