Paranoia

For the ODC challenge "Shadow" I drew inspiration from a playing card from the wonderfully imaginative storytelling game Dixit.

I titled this image "paranoia", but the concept of it got me thinking about fear and the role it plays in our lives.

Sadly, the ugly business of politics often trades in fear. Fear of what we do not know or fully understand is shaped into powerful narratives that portray certain groups as enemies, dividing us.

However, fear can also play a very healthy and productive role in our lives, like our collective response to the Coronavirus, which not only helps keep us safe but ultimately saves lives.

In fact, fear of our natural predators and other things that might kill us has played a vital role in human evolution through the process of natural selection for millennia.

So, while in this case the portrayal of paranoia is one of fear's negative connotations, fear, like most everything else in life, is what we make of it.

When weaponized, it can destroy us, but when we face and confront our fears, we learn and grow and become stronger.

Done