Beat the fear

Brave like a girl; Stand for something – phrases that crossed my mind as I saw the picture. Simultaneously, I wanted to come up with my own description of this picture: No matter how big is the obstacle, don’t let the fear make you accept your defeat.

Now the question is what one sees in that bull. It could mean different obstacles for different people in different situation, and that girl is “us” who should stand against that obstacle fearlessly.

Fear is one of the impediments of our life, that kind of impediment that builds inside of us and keeps us away from standing for our goals and dreams and for what is right and just.

For me, that bull means injustice and the harsh situation that builds the fear inside people. That fear makes them choose the temporary comfort but they don’t know that their fear feeds the bull and makes it bigger. For example, in my country, Afghanistan, many people think that now it is not possible to beat the bull of injustice in our country. But I think it is their fear that makes them think like that. If ancient people hadn’t stood for justice, where we would have been today; building pyramids? Or maybe girls would have been still buried alive. It was the brave ones who stood for rights and justices, so that today we have a right to object, to go to school, to vote, and to elect our leaders.

It doesn’t matter if one is old, young, woman, or man, one should always beat the fear inside of her or him and stand for the right such as this girl in the picture.

The girl in this picture can really represent the bravery of a woman that I heard about in the news: Commander Kafter, an Afghan leady who fought Taliban and defeated them.

She is the patrol and leader for her community. She, with her members, defeated Taliban when they attacked their village. She beat them because she was brave enough to beat her fears and stand for herself and her community. Had she been afraid, she could have been captured by the Taliban without even fighting, but she dared and she won the battle.

It is the same in every situation, if we beat our fear, we can beat the bull.

Often, being fearless and brave is related or is entitled to boys. I think that is not justifiable. One doesn’t have to be a boy to be brave and fearless. It is another thing that obstacles that we girls face might be different or even bigger than that of boys, but the point is to fearlessly face the obstacles and stand for your right.

The counter argument would be that fear is not always a bad thing. To some extent, I agree with that in some cases. For example, the fear of poverty would make one work hard or the fear of God would keep people away of doing anything wrong and harmful.

On the other hand, if one’s goal and dreams are right and just, he or she should stand for it not matter how big the obstacles are. Because if you don’t stand, who else would stand it for you? People would help or persuade you but they will not fight your battle.

One should stand for your own goals and dreams. And it would be extra struggle worthy if that goal or dream is of the one that would benefit others too or change things for good- for example, the girls’ right to education. It was the brave women who fought and struggled despite the existence of inconsistencies in their societies, that today girls can go to school and become doctors, engineers and many other tasks that women were not allowed to do.

Fear does not only take away your abilities but also it will make you sad in future. It will make you sad because, later on, when you think about not fighting the obstacles due to your fears, you will regret highly. You would think with yourself “maybe I could have done it had I not feared”, but that would be too late because time stops for no one. Hence, beat the fear inside yourself and then you will be able to fight the obstacles.

In conclusion, I would say one should stand for their goals, dreams, and for what is right and just. Especially, if it is something concerning human rights and justice, she should not be afraid of the hurdles that would look big and scary like this bull; because if you let the fear undermine your abilities, the bull would get bigger and bigger. Hence, no matter whether one is a girl or a boy, she or he should stand fearlessly and fight bravely for what is right as this girl in the picture stands fearlessly against that bull.