Fear or Hope - For or Against. Where are you - honestly?

Do you tend to be someone who votes or lives or moves through you life motivated by fear or hope? For me, fear is a gut feeling. I know I react to situations in which I am afraid. That is, I do not put much thought into that reaction. I go. I move. I do not spend much time deliberating because I am living within the notion that something bad or harmful may take place. In the middle of a situation I experience as fear-full I must say I act in that old classic mode of freeze-flee-fight. They are all reactions. They can be self-preserving reactions. So there is nothing wrong with reacting within the realm of fear's influence. 

To operate within the domain of hope, it seems to me that I must pause - hesitate - deliberate. That appeals to me but that could be because I am an introvert and I need time to process in any situation. Although, frighten me and I know how to move/react  right now! I don't always need time to process. Some of my friends would even say I need to process more before I open my mouth - that's why I love my friends. I find hope arises out of a scenario that is in place already. It is part of a vision beyond that which can be a frightening world. 

I live within the reality of hopefulness and fear. I am an endless coward who counts on the vision of life that is beyond the fear filled present and the threatening future. It is there in that vision that I at least become familiar with the opportunity to be courageous despite the fact that I am a coward. Yet I do not think it is simply about being courageous. Rather, it is more about how one views adversity or threat or  contrary opinions. When I am afraid - it is easy to demonize. When I demonize, I give little room to reflection. When I do not allow myself the time/space to reflect, I react. Hopefulness is diminished as I cling to self-preservation by reacting. When I am hopeful - it is easy to appear foolish. I find that hopefulness calls forth a life that is vulnerable and may not make it to Act two. Yet, through experience in being viewed as foolish, I know that there is an Act two. There is a time beyond this moment. I am also finding that anticipating Act two brings more substance into Act one. 

I am an Uber driver when I have the time. I just completed taking a poll (YaketyYak Poll) with my customers. I wanted to know how people were intending to vote. It was a blast. I heard so many opinions and took part in discussions that pushed and pulled me. I also noticed the air in the car. It quickly was filled with fear or hope - sometimes both at once. People voiced their preference for presidential candidates and those voices were filled with fear no matter who they considered their candidate. At the same time, those voices were also filled with hope. There were those who were going to vote for one candidate because they feared what could happen if the other one was elected. Some of these people also would say they tend to be hopeful but fear was leading their hand. 

So, I will begin a new YaketyYak poll after the Democratic National Convention. I will once again ask folks how they will vote in the presidential election. I also want to ask the next question - but I'm not sure how to ask it. I need some help. Do I simply ask if they are voting out of a sense of fear or hope? Do I ask if their vote is a for or is it an against? I want to make the poll as simple as possible and one that may lead into a discussion in the car. I also want a follow-up discussion to deal with the notion of resignation - but I do not want to move into a Kierkegaardian discussion of fear and trembling.  I would like to hear your thoughts/suggestions.

I long to be a hopeful person. My gut says that will take constant work. To be so nurtured in a vision of hopefulness that I can move through my fears challenges me to shut up - listen - take the risk to speak/act - then do it again no matter how I am perceived or treated. This is hard stuff for a coward and one who tends to be a people-pleaser. This is the point of my life in which I personally pitch my tent within the story of resistance to human fear, anxiety, retaliation, and the violence that so often fills the day. It is a story that demands I stay put and live within hope even when there appears to be no hope. It is also a story that never stops coming into contact with all the various powers of the day but never giving my life over to them. That story involves death and resurrection.

TRRR