Nothing like a click-bait-y title, eh? Well, truth is, it's not an exaggeration at all.

The crocodile tears of mass killers no longer impress me.

The opposite of fear is not courage. The opposite of fear is beauty and freedom. It does take courage to stand up for beauty and freedom, though, in the face of violence and/or the threats thereof.

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When I think about the things that are anxiety-inducing for me, they are not often things such as natural disasters like earthquakes or typhoons. These are extremely disturbing and powerful phenomena, which have killed hundreds of thousands of human beings just in recent history alone. There is, however, no mal-intent in their killing. These natural disasters happen, well, naturally, for the most part (there is some interesting information floating around about manufactured weather, but that goes beyond the scope of this post).

What am I "afraid of"? What does give me stomachaches, and lingers in the back of my mind all day, every day? Thoughts of "the state." Governments. Man-made seats of power recognized even today as being created by "divine right" (people will claim they do not believe this, but if pressed can really come up with no other justification for their irrational faith in the state).

• What scares me is people who believe that possession of a plant should be punished by kidnapping and breaking up families, stealing innocent men and women from their children, and locking them in cages, depriving children of loving parents.

• What scares me is the mobs and masses of individuals who still hold the irrational and outdated belief that it is my duty to pay for the bombs and machines of war that shred the flesh of infants overseas, bombing wedding parties, funerals, ambulances, hospitals, and ending the lives of men, women, and children thousands of miles away that I have never met. If I refuse to pay for this carnage, I am deemed a criminal, and deserve to be caged or killed. How barbaric. But hey, that's "civilization," right?

• What scares me is not only the cops who kill in cold blood: "Cross your legs and crawl toward me! If you fuck up I'll kill you!" What scares me is also the legions of brainwashed individuals who worship these figures as virtual gods: "He shouldn't have crawled so fast! He reached back!" The cops rarely if ever receive the same punishment (if they receive any at all) that a normal, "mere mortal" would be met with. The arbiters judge themselves and justice is of course not served, while the corpses of Daniel Shaver, Aiyana Jones, and countless others rot in the ground.

All of the above examples share a common theme: irrationality and violence.

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NOT ENDOWED WITH REASON.
What reason is there to kidnap a man for having a plant? For bombing a house full of children? For shooting a man on his hands and knees, who has harmed no one, begging for his life to be spared? There is no reason used here. These are irrational and violent acts.

VIOLENCE.
Irrationality alone is not really a scary thing. The man down the street spinning in circles smiling and singing in his own world may be said to act irrationally. The difference between this man and state agents is that his existence and livelihood do not depend on exercising violence against you. The same cannot be said for the cop, the bureaucrat, the soldier, or the politician.

You give them your life and they give you a goddamned rock.

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I'm tired. I'm tired of the anxiety. The world is full of people who just want to live. To smile. To laugh. To work hard and enjoy the fruits of their labor. Things will never be "perfect," but god knows they could be a hell of a lot better than this.

We live in a culture that attempts to justify the murder of infants, the kidnapping of children and parents alike, and the killing of one's neighbors by other individuals in costumes vested with "magic power."

If that isn't a scary goddamned nightmare, then I don't know what is.

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For those like me, that just want to live and let live. I'd just like to say thanks for existing. For just being. You are the salt of the earth. You bring flavor, and you also irritate the boring, the violent, and the half-dead. In the end, those with the spirit of children win. Those who violate others will have to face the consequences of these violations. Maybe that's wishful thinking, but even if it is, I am going to continue to strive in creating an existence here that is closer and closer to that vision.

Peace, and thank you for reading.

~KafkA

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Graham Smith is a Voluntaryist activist, creator, and peaceful parent residing in Niigata City, Japan. Graham runs the "Voluntary Japan" online initiative with a presence here on Steem, as well as Facebook and Twitter. (Hit me up so I can stop talking about myself in the third person!)