Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
This has been another Friday of…. wait, that’s the closing that Kristi uses at the end of her FTSF. Don’t tell anyone, but I’m gonna go ahead and copy/paste that thing right up front here at the beginning. Given the tendencies of posts here at the Wakefield Doctrine to… shall we say, take the off-ramp that clearly has cones and those fence-looking barriers and such. It might be in everyone’s best interest to let you know what it is we’re supposed to be writing about.
the sentence prompt “I’m really afraid that/of…”
Write about spiders, a fear of heights, our political climate, or anything that makes you afraid or think of fear in general. The link-up will stay open through late-night Sunday evening. Write and then visit either Kenya G. Johnson at https://www.kenyagjohnson.com/blog/ or me at http://www.findingninee.com to add your blog post to the link-up.
Hope to see you there!
Ok, now that we’ve gotten the Public Service Announcements out-of-the-way, on with the Finish the Sentence Friday prompt:
“I’m really afraid that/of…
…I will be subject to scrutiny that is beyond my ability to control or, failing that, influence.” (Spoiler Alert! Spoiler Alert! I just inadvertently tipped my hand for the ‘big finish’. damn!)
Lets start this over again.
“I’m really afraid of the things that instill, inspire, instigate and otherwise install the premise of fear in my mind.” Before anyone is tempted to think, ‘yeah, real original, clark. FDR did that back in the 1940s, at least according to my (current) history books,’ permit me say that although politicians are not normally thought of as the go-to people for philosophical conundrums and Westernized koans, consider what the guy was reputed to have said, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” Jeez Louise! I can’t have been the only kid who heard that and, after the other kids got tired of yelling, ‘Hell yeah… If I was old enough, I’d throw grenades and charge those pill boxes’ and hitting the next smaller kid on the shoulder and running off to do something fun without girls, thought, ‘Oh man! It’s true. There’s no escaping the feeling of fear and dread. The president just said so.’
Despite how I felt (ok, sure, possibly because of how I felt) I ran after the pack, yelling, ‘hey guys! wait for me.’ And they slowed down just enough for me to almost catch up.
And so the young Outsider, surveys the social terrain and accepts the fact of life that, like the taste of a certain apple, once fear has been acknowledged it can be escaped only temporarily.
(New(ish) Readers of the Wakefield Doctrine. Yes, the designation of ‘Outsider’ is a reference to one of the three personality types. The clarks. The other two, Predator and Herd Member correspond to scotts and rogers. There is a rule in the Doctrine, referred to ‘the Everything Rule’. What it states is, ‘everyone does everything, at one time or another’. What it means is that, using today’s prompt, all three personality types experience fear. Because they are a reflection of three different personal realities, what fear is, or, as we say, ‘how fear manifests’, is a reflection of the character of the world that the individual is experiencing. This is a long way around to say that for me, as a clark, I would substitute the word ‘scrutiny*’ for ‘fear’. It makes a lot more sense. And god knows, clarks really need to believe that things to make sense.)
While I might simply and clearly describe what causes me to feel fear, it is helpful to remember a paraphrase(d) saying, “What doesn’t kill me, shapes my world.” In the (personal) reality of clarks, fear is like rain. It is an ever-present fact of the world. It makes us believe that we feel disappointed (the day at the beach being ruined) or grateful (that the crops will have a chance to survive or angry that nature is being indifferent to our wedding plans. We, most of us, believe that our emotional response is caused by the rain. We have a choice. The same with fear (in the world of clarks, that is). We have the choice of how we feel. Unfortunately for our people, emotions are very much a, ‘at arms length’ transaction (as the real estate people say). But it is available. The choice.
[This just in!! Realtime example. Fear is trying to make this post go on and on. We, all of us who would throw our thoughts and words out to the world, know why that is. Because suppose they all …. fill in the blank with your favorite self-imposed vulnerability.]
*scrutiny: From Middle English scrutiny, from Medieval Latin scrūtinium (“a search, an inquiry”), from Vulgar Latin scrūtor (“to search or examine thoroughly”), of uncertain origin. Possibly from Late Latin scrūta (“rubbish, broken trash”**); (wiktionary.com)
** no! really look it up! broken trash?!!…. who the hell are they calling ‘broken trash’ lol
About clarkscottroger
I feel that scrutiny. I don’t think I write nearly as “fearless” as I did when maybe two people read my posts. I hope to get back the fearlessness.
The first post I published (stop me if I’ve told you the story already)…. I finished, edited and all that was left was to hit ‘Publish’. I did. Then I click out of wordpress…reached down and turned off the computer…got up, got my coat and went to the garage and drove away from the house.
lol (I must be getter better, I hardly ever leave the house because of a post…though I still will have to get up and walk around after publishing some..get rid of the extra energy)
I sure do understand scrutiny as a fear. Kind of along those lines and regarding my blog and blogging; there have been times when a post of mine seems to be getting a lot more reads than usual. Most people would be happy about that because of course we write and hope folks will read- but when something gets so much more play all of a sudden, my first reaction is always that something must be very wrong. Either my site is being spammed or someone shared it somewhere and many people are bashing it. I know that this is not the way to look at things but my first reaction is always that it is being shared or read in a negative light
yeah… ain’t it something, the energy we feel when something like that happens…not always that pleasurable (or even comfortable)… but a part of the process. I guess
A man I admire tells me regularly that “other people’s opinions of you are none of your business.” It’s another way of saying “worry about yourself, kid, not about other people.” It’s a hard lesson, but I try to remind myself that scrutiny by others is almost always more about their relationship with themselves than it is about me.
Totally agree, total true and damned hard to remember to do… lol
“What doesn’t kill me, shapes my world” – I kinda like those words and get what you mean.
thanks (reality is so much more (and less) than we often believe)
Most excellent thoughts, my Clark Friend. I like that a Clark’s fear is like the rain. Always there… but we choose to be grateful or disappointed. Brilliant. LOL to the fear of the post going on forever. I have the whole “that post sucked but I don’t care but then I care” fear. Which who cares, right?? Right! It’s like the rain. Mwah!
krisssstee! thanks for having such a cool bunch of friends and letting this clark hang out
I wish I could let scrutiny roll off my back better. I received some with my writing this week and I am trying to find the part where I learn something from the experience and grow as a writer. Then I feel that whiny side of myself come out and start feeling sorry for myself. I don’t want to feel so discouraged. I want to push past it. I understand your fear and don’t know, still, what to make of that FDR quote.
its, like people are saying (about FDRs statement)…’yeah, the bad guys ain’t so scary, the heck with ’em’ and don’t see that he says that fear (and notice, no limitations on circumstances or conditions that give rise to fear and therefore it is everywhere, all the time.) is scary, scarier than anything and…. and, we’re right to believe what the fear presents to us as individuals (and surely that is where the power of fear really is, in it’s capacity to be personal)…. eww what a horrible concept!
You are not yet able to let the scrutiny roll off your back because of FDR! lol
*passed
good comment*
*no, I’m serious! In the way of the thing we do (writing) that single word comments reminds us of how there is nothing but stories around us. (Speaking for myself) the key is catching the emotional content of the moment and developing skill with the wordage…
Yes, we do have a choice of how we feel, and oh how difficult that can be sometimes.
Fortunate is the person who recognizes that he does have a choice.
tru dat
We do have a choice to be afraid, most of the time, I think. Spiders are scary unless we choose to be scared, right? Maybe the key is knowing when being afraid is a good choice, and when it is not helpful at all.
I agree. Of course, being an arachnophobe I will make the distinction between fear and anxiety. But, as always (at least around here) it’s how the reaction (fear or whatever) manifests to us that is of first importance. I choose to believe that we have the choice as to how things in the world make us feel, better to say, we are responsible for how we feel. The important inference (for me) is that no one can ‘make me’ feel a certain way. I must choose to agree, cooperate, take the suggestion, whatever you call it. ya know?