Heading into 2022, many people are fearing — fearing inflation and ongoing mental exhaustion, fearing severe illness due to the surging COVID-19 omicron variant, and fearing the probability of another shutdown. With the 2021 holiday season ending, I was thinking about one of the most profound quotes regarding fear from former President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1933 inauguration speech: “… first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is … fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”
Roosevelt was speaking to the nation while it was still in the clutches of The Great Depression. Roughly 15 million people were unemployed and major cities were still reeling from the 1929 stock market crash. Photos of hungry and frail men standing in lines during the winter to receive bread and a bowl of soup distinctively symbolize the massive suffering of this era. Roosevelt had just won the 1932 presidency in a landslide victory over Republican incumbent Herbert Hoover, and Roosevelt was intent on reassuring Americans that he could lead the country out of its economic downturn with his objectives for relief and recovery in the domestic plans of his New Deal. Declaring that fear was the greatest obstacle standing in the way of America’s return to prosperity was thought-provoking, as no one knew what was coming in the future.
Roosevelt gave his inauguration speech in March, so it wasn’t exactly a New Year’s message in the context that inaugural addresses are often given in our present times. Going into 2022 with economic insecurity still at the forefront and financial experts predicting a pandemic recession, I’m sure many people would love to hear some Rooseveltian guarantee that things will get better. President Joe Biden tried to provide some motivational words in his December 21 update on the fight against COVID, telling the nation that “… while COVID has been a tough adversary, we’ve shown that we’re tougher – tougher because we have the power of science and vaccines that prevent illness and save lives, and tougher because of our resolve.” With his approval rating in the low 40s, it is apparent that Biden’s words fell mostly on discontented ears, but whether or not people like the job the president is doing, they are still going to have to face their fears.
Roosevelt saying in 1933 that fear is a “nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror” that paralyzes is certainly relevant today, over eight decades later. People feel terrified in this pandemic as what we used to know as normalcy feels like a distant memory, and there are a lot of “what ifs” on the horizon.
For me as an educator, a looming “what if” is the possibility of having to go online again for spring semester classes and not being able to have significant in-person connections with my students. However, I’ve made the decision that I cannot go into the new year with fear hindering me. As I’ve thought about Roosevelt’s description of fear, I’ve also reflected on how Scripture says that “[f]or God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). In this verse, power is the Greek translation of “dunamis,” which means the ability to accomplish whatever God wills us to do, love is translated as “agape,” meaning unconditional devotion, and a sound mind indicates a disciplined mind. I know that I need my mind to be disciplined to be the best teacher that I can be in these times, and most importantly, I need a disciplined mind to meditate on the promises of God to give me peace and reassurance that I will thrive.
One of the worst things that fear does is cripple people with hopelessness, helplessness and oftentimes anger. Right now, the anxiety that lurks with the dread of the coronavirus is daunting but living to see 2022 is a great blessing. As you begin the new year, fight fear with faith and be unyielding in not letting the unknown paralyze you.
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