perception

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”

– Franklin Delano Roosevelt, “First Inaugural Address”

We may fear different things

spiders, tsunamis

a gust of wind taking you away by storm in the dark night

but it is the feeling of being scared

that is uniting in itself

for better or for worse

it is only how

we react to fear

that defines us

not to be confused with

the actual sense of terror

in this way, we must condemn the decision

but not the person

for we are all so consumed by horror

we cannot blame others

for feelings we ourselves

are currently experiencing

why would a prisoner

lash out at his cellmate for attempting to escape

when he too is trapped?

indeed, perhaps his cellmate has been only convicted of theft

and himself of murder

perhaps his cellmate has only been in prison three months

and himself for ten years

but both men long to leave the prison

because they fear what is within it

they fear what it means to be captured

and so they are both just

in their want to leave

thus, it is how his cellmate attempts to escape

that must affect the man

not his humanity itself

because by seeing himself through fear in his cellmate

he will easily be able

to suggest another way out

that liberates the both of them.