Will My Fears Ever Change?
Tween columnist Henry J. walks us through his biggest fears (heights, insects, chalk, death), while musing on the human fear cycle.
By Henry J
Published
Give The People What They Want is a monthly column on the happenings of a preteen, written by 12-year-old Henry J.
Sorry for my hiatus of articles, lots of stuff going on in my personal life. So, I bring to you my latest and greatest Masterpiece, Freaking Out.
What makes me freak out? Well, there's the common stuff. Heights, we all have that fear when you’re on a hike on a mountain, and you peek off the side of the cliff, and that shot of fear goes directly into your face. Heights and Insects are my main fears.
The insect fear didn't actually start until I was like 6 or 7. Before that, I was fine with bugs. It started when I watched Indiana Jones 4: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. There's this one scene where the bad guys are chasing Indiana through the jungle on separate jeeps, and at the end of the chase, they drive off into a large dirt open area, where a bunch of huge, man-eating ants come out of huge mounds in the dirt and start eating the bad guys. Indy has a fight with one of the main bad guys, and it ends with Indy sucker punching the guy, making him stumble and fall into the ants, where then the ants enter every single orifice on his head (Mouth, Nose, Ears) and he's screaming his lungs out. At that moment, I'm starting to rethink my future job and become an exterminator. The ants drag him away into the mounds, and the scene ends.
I'm here, in a shocked state, with my jaw dropped to the floor and further down to earth’s core. There are scenes like this with various giant man-eating bugs that have scared me; The Mummy and the Skin-Crawling Scarabs, King Kong (2005 with Jack Black) and its giant worms and grasshoppers, and StarShip Troopers with the giant weird alien bugs.