Fright and Fear

 

 

Fright and fear are not the same

As some may tend to think,

Fright is more or less short lived

And occurs as quickly as a blink.

Fear is vastly different from fright

And builds up over time,

An impending event or diagnosis

May constantly plague the mind.

Fright and fear are like cousins

Their circumstances quite unlike,

Sometimes though they’re like siblings

And we need to get them right.

 

Suddenly falling out of a tree

Will produce a great deal of fright

But the fear of falling

Must be viewed in a different light.

Confronting a goliath

Produces both fright and fear,

Fright because he’s so imposing

And then the fear of death appears.

So while fright occurs at a moment

Fear is a continuous affair,

Phobia is a more apt expression

To explain this nature of fear.

When there is a rapid pulse rate

Fright is more likely the cause,

Often it brings on a panic

And puts one’s life on pause.

Fear may originate from fright

Coming out of a bad experience,

The fear of a repeated overture

Could become particularly intense.

The fear of bathing in the sea

Could be the result of a close call

In which the initial fright of the occasion

Hadn’t left the memory at all.

  

Sometimes the two are confused

Like frightened or afraid of the dark

But this is more likely a fear

Or a phobia if it is particularly stark.

Both can be quite disconcerting

One over a long time, the other short

But fear can be so unnerving

That even reality it can distort.

Fright is a natural response

To a sudden and unexpected situation

But fear is often irrational

And needs counseling intervention.

 

You would recall the Psalmist David

That had slain the warrior giant

Yet he fled from King Saul

That had had murderous intent.

Then there was Elijah

That had defeated the prophets of Baal

Remember how he fled from Jezebel

Like the cowardly dog and his tail?

Need I mention Abraham?

A man of an abundance of faith

Yet when fearing for his life

His wife his sister did replace.

 

And what about Peter the disciple

That denied the Lord Jesus Christ?

He promised his all to Jesus

But fear curbed that sacrifice.

The other disciples were no different

They followed from afar,

It was fear that caused this behavior

Fear was their insurmountable bar.

So fright and fear are not the same

They are not the same at all,

While one is short lived the other lives on

In sinner and saint: that’s my call.

Stewart Russell © August 2018