Interestingly enough, I had a big fear of dogs. I don’t really know why because I’ve never had a traumatic experience with them (thank God I never got bitten).
I also feared being alone, darkness (but not much) and heights. Woah, I was a fearful kid.
Today, well, I only fear those big, aggressive dogs like kangals and rottweilers. As for darkness and loneliness, nah.
As a small child, I feared that humanity would go extinct. I knew the following:
I stayed up at night worrying about this. I was precocious in this very difficult way, and it was hard for my parents.
As a teen, this fear was somewhat replaced by an increased understanding of entropy and a fear of the eventual end of the universe.
As an adult, that fear has been somewhat replaced by an increased understanding of human nature and a fear that we will ruin ourselves before either other fear can come to pass.
Looking to the future, I see that my oldest wants to be an engineer for NASA and has the chops to pull that off of his interest maintains. My youngest compulsively helps people. Maybe there are enough people like the two I was blessed with. Maybe one day we can get off this rock and scatter like seeds on the wind. Maybe raising them right will be my small contribution to the continued success of humanity.