Jared saw a shadow move in front him and he stopped dead in his tracks. Then, as if saying hello, a small kitten stumbled out from behind a trash can. Whether fearing from misinterpreted noises or fearing an upcoming English test, fear can affect people’s lives by numbing their emotions and causing unwanted stress.

When put in fear’s presence, people tend to become mind-numb to their surroundings. For example, in the memoir Night by Ellie Wiesel, Ellie’s emotions are put to the test when his father takes a brutal beating. Instead of stepping forward to help, Ellie is numbed with the fear of being beaten as well, so he watches . . . emotionless, affecting how his father sees him. In addition, every horror movie has climactic scenes where the Freddy Kruegers, Hannibal Lecters, and Jason Voorhees characters appear. Instead of fleeing in fear, most characters stand there with jaws open, unable to move a muscle. Like shown in these characters, fear has a way of creeping in and paralyzing our bodies before we can react.

Along with dull emotions, fear can cause unwanted worry or stress. To illustrate, in the novel The Red Pony by John Steinbeck, after 10-year-old Jody’s pony died, the ranch hand Billy Buck feared that the new pony would not make it through its birth. Billy and Jody both questioned every day if it would come, when it would come, and if it would be healthy. Realizing their worry was simply out of fear, they relaxed and let nature happen. Like Jody and Billy Buck, fear can present itself in a dangerous way, numbing our emotions and making us stress.

Jared realized what had happened and let the worry slip away. Like Jared, we tend to let fear cloud our emotions and make us think the worse out of situations.