Fear...

Fear is something that we experience from time to time, many times from different things at the same time. Fear of losing our job, of failure, of rejection etc. For the last few weeks I have noticed a fear of the unknown, whenever 2 people of the opposite sex are in a confined space together. With my wife in the hospital, I use an elevator quite often. What I noticed is that whenever someone, me included, gets into an elevator that is either unoccupied or only has one person in it they turn and punch the button for the floor they wish to go to. This is normal unto itself but what I have noticed is that they then just stand right there next to the selection panel. So whenever the next person gets on they ask for the button to their floor to be selected. This also is normal. What I started doing whenever I enter an elevator and push my button, I would move to the back of the elevator so that I would be out of the way for the next person that gets on. But doing this has opened my eyes to peoples reactions. I stand in the corner minding my own business but I get an uneasy feeling whenever a woman gets on, for that matter, many times when a man get on too, as though I get a feeling that they are nervous. I understand why she feels this way, I just never thought about it. In my effort to be courteous, I have instead created an area of tension.