Sight seems to be human's most reliable way of getting information without getting hurt. Not all objects produce sound, and humans cannot use sound reflection(or sonar, which stands for SOund Navigation And Ranging) to know what something is like by nature, whereas humans can produce light, and with binocular vision,we can easily judge the distance of objects within 300 metres (this is limited by the distance between our eyes and sensitivity of our light sensors). Perhaps our linar(which stands for LIght Navigation And Ranging) can be considered a faster than sonar, and more reliable(the refraction of light is much less than sound waves, and diffraction of light waves is small enough to be considered very reliable,whereas sounds waves diffract a lot). Humans are unable to navigate completely purely using sound, and human ears can be easily decived by distraction tactics. Humans don't have great noses, so smell is out. Other senses touch and taste require the observer to be close to the object before it can be observed, and hence they are not considered. Whether the sixth sense is a real sense is still being debated, and i shall not discuss that.

So we can see, sight is our most reliable source of information. Even if your ears, your nose or your skin tell you otherwise, you will almost always believe what your eyes tell you. No wonder there is such a saying, "Seeing is believing".

What is black, or darkness then? Darkness is a condition where there is no light. Black is the colour that absorbs and emits all radiation, and in a sense, light. At room conditions with light, black will abosrb all light, and emit invisible radiation (whereas on the sun it will emit white light), and hence mimic darkness.

Humans are by nature weak creatures. Without knowledge from our ancestors who survived and hence could enlighten us on what is dangerous and what is not, we hardly seem to fit into nature. We have no caecum nor rumen, so it seems we are not fated to be herbivores. We have no canines nor claws nor strong muscles nor quick feet nor tough outer covering, so it seems we are one of the target preys( it does make me wonder since so many reports speak of lions, sharks, crocodiles, snakes, spiders...all the dangerous predators prefer other animal meat to primates'... is bad tasting meat one of our adaptations against predators?). Humans, by nature, have much to be afraid of. in fact, even in this room, i can find thousands of way to hurt myself if this place was pitch black, and i have no prior knowledge of my own room. Getting hurt instinctively causes one to fear. In the jungle at night, we not only had to stay unhurt, we had to find food as well. It is no wonder why many are afraid of the dark. Being afraid of the dark was, in my opinion, by no means sissy or childish. We needed to be afraid of the dark; there was much to fear.

Many people try to reassure those who are afraid of the dark that there is nothing to be afraid of.

"For the thousandth time, dear, i assure you there are no monsters under the bed."

It makes me wonder: did adult cavemen check what was under their bed? i doubt they had potassium permanganate, sulphur, or pesticides then. Centipedes, snakes and spider go under any warm flat object they can find, and sometimes they go over.

In sleep, humans are in a very vulnerable state. Their senses are made less responsive, and there are many things that once he is touched by ithe can be hurt, or even killed (a hungry jaguar or python are considered such things). This is compunded with the fact that should one be attacked during sleep, one can hardly respond, and even if he wakes up he will not know what the danger is, and the extent of it, due to the fact that most humans sleep at night.

Children have the instinct of our cavemen ancestors (who, probably thanks to their instinctive behavior, survived), and have little knowledge on how much safer the city is. There is much to be afraid of during sleep, and in the dark, i would hence make the conclusion that is it perfectly normal for childen to be afarid of monsters under their bed.

So should being afraid of the dark be considered an ignorant act? Even in the city, there is much to be afraid of. Most crimes occur at night, and many have the experience of feeling strange things at night. Perhaps they are things that come out in the night, and being an agnostic and not an atheist, i would not like to argue about that. It seems that it is more likely that in the dark, we can only rely on our prior information, our hearing and our touch for information of normal things(smelled or tasted ghost before, anyone?). We have a crippled source of reliable information, but we still have an active and vivid imagination. Probably we would be feeling the same thing in the day and at night, but because we can't see it properly, and perhaps fear-ridden by our imagination and prior information, we dare not explore. There are also creatures that come out at night, such as ticks, mites, spiders, and these are also reasons.

In short, the fear of dark is not unfounded, and is something we all have felt before. Now, in the city, this fear is probably one without a good reason, but it is nevertheless felt, due to our instinct, and not due our imagination. Hence the fear of darkness is probably as natural as a fear of pain, which is so instinctive that it is not considered a fear. Just like pain, fear of darkness can be overcomed by our mind. Let me give an example: A, in a proper mind, will not want to get hit by B, and will stay away from B when B tried to hit him. However, if B promises A ten dollars for every hit, and supposing B's hit does not injure, A would overcome the pain and allow himself to be hit, even though he still feels the pain. How about someone daring another to go to the attic of a "haunted" house at midnight without a torchlight? Now there is a good reason for him to overcome the fear of darkness, even though he will be afraid.

In these days, the rewards of risking darkness far outweighs the fear of it itself, yet pain still causes most shy away from it, as the reward is not high enough.

I feel that fear of darkness should not be considered childish, as most people in the right mind will not consider pain to be childish instinct.