Everyone fears something – and some of these somethings are real. For example, the most common fear worldwide is arachnophobia, the fear of spiders. Spiders are real. I know this personally because twice, a Brown Recluse came out of recluse to bite me. By day’s end, I looked like the Pillsbury Doughboy – only red.
Other fears are imagined, as in Kinemortophobia, the fear of zombies. Evidently there’s this fine line between fear and fantasy, because the 3rd ranking TV series is the Walking Dead. People are dying to see the next episode.
Some other phobias are just plain funny. Are you familiar with Omphalophobia, the fear of belly buttons? I suspect it’s only those that are naval destroyers. (“Did he really write that?”) Here’s another funny one: Alektorophobia. Now despite recent events, this is NOT a fear of the electoral process to elect a President. Rather, it’s a fear of chickens. Simply put, it’s being a chicken of chickens.
Here’s a very common fear: Trypanophobia, a fear of needles. Get the point? My wife’s greatest fear is Chiroptophobia, the fear of bats; not the baseball kind, but the flying kind. One once bit her in the eye. It can no longer be said of her that she never batted an eye. This event naturally led to her Trypanophobia, her fear of needles. She had to get those awful rabies shots to the gut.
Here’s an unpleasant fear: Emetophobia: the fear of vomiting. It makes me sick just to think about it.
Of course the fear I spawned at my church is macrohomiletiphobia, the fear of long sermons. Why not come out this Sunday and see if you can develop an immunity?