Scared safe is one thing...
Living in fear is quite another!
I've known enough people with phobias of one kind or another to know that they give up a sizable portion of their lives when they live in fear. Not only that, but their personal potential in regard to what they can make of their lives is curtailed severely.
Most people who have phobias really can't help themselves any more than I can help having epilepsy and when they do something in spite of those fears, they are drawing on a reserve of personal courage as great as that of any soldier attacking a fortified position.
Perhaps even more so, because other people don't recognize those fears or offer support to the people who are trying to function in spite of them. Kudos to those of you who are facing your phobias and attempting to put your fears behind you!
However, many phobias are also learned at some point in our lives. Xenophobia is a good case in point, since you first have to learn what you are (or think you are) before you can differentiate between the racial or tribal group that you are affiliated with and another. Even then, you don't necessarily think that being different is a bad thing until somebody teaches you that it is.
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