What we don't know

What is a monster?

People often consider monsters to be ugly, large, frightening beasts that cause us to reconsider where we step our feet or lay our heads, or deter us from walking in the dark or past the unknown. In reality, monsters can be considered as anything that may cause temporary setbacks or discomforts in our lives. For me, it may be inner controversies, or dilemmas that I may face in every day life that cause me to reconsider the typical behaviors or morals that I value. Such dilemmas could include struggles that many people consider to be problems; moral controversies that could determine the outcome of certain perceptions that we may have in given situations. For example, there are situations in the world that we may consider to be a monstrosity, such as terrorist attacks. The act of terrorism is an event that puts people on edge and sends fear down the spines of many people, for this is an act way out of the typical social norm that we are very frightened to consider even happening to us. One of the biggest fears in our culture is the common fear of the unknown; whether or not certain beasts (monsters) exist, what we can’t see in the dark, or what we don’t know about our future. Through this fear, we tend to find our comfort zones away from these things and lock ourselves in with what is comfortable or normal to us, and as we begin to view the unknown as monstrous or frightening. In reality, the unknown is where we will be able to learn more about things that could be beneficial to us that we just may not have discovered yet. The unknown is also intriguing to some, and its those people who tend to make advances in technology because they are simply testing the boundaries that we have placed on society. Although monsters are typically considered as scary, I believe that the biggest reason we believe that is true is because of the uncertainty about them and the fact that we do not know whether or not we could ever encounter one of these beings.