Greatest Fears?

I frequently challenge my students with daily journals which are supposed to make them think beyond the surface.  Last week, one of my daily journal prompts was "What is your biggest fear and how often do you think about it?" I was pairing this prompt with a lesson on Jonathan Edwards's sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" which is all about fearing the wrath of God and going to hell. Yeah, okay, whatever, Edwards.

One of my students turned the question back at me and I honestly could not answer the question. I believe I have suffered through and survived my greatest fears: cancer, major depressive episode, rejection, loneliness, failure, jumping out of a plane at 14,000 feet (although that one wasn't a fear of mine), job loss, and worse of all -- an 8-year Bush presidency. <shudder> What's left to be afraid of?  Okay, a Romney presidency is a pretty frightening thought but other than that... 

I did a little research and found a list of some of the top fears. The strangest fear on the list is fear of long words, which the scientific word for that is: Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia. It's true! That's a legitimate fear. Why would they create such a lengthy scientific word for a fear of long words? Hmmmm. Here are the top 10 fears: 

1. flying - nope
2. public speaking - nope
3. heights - nope
4. dark - nope
5. intimacy - nope
6. death, dying - nope
7. failure - been there, done that
8. rejection - been there, done that
9. spiders - no, unless they're the humongous spiders; like the Goliath birdeater
10. commitment - nope

So where does that leave me?  I've been thinking long and hard over this question and I would say that I suppose it's the fear of being stricken with Alzheimer's and I think about it occasionally but not regularly.  Otherwise, I honestly don't think I have any other great fear. I hate snakes and clowns, but I don't exactly 'fear' them. How about you?  What's your greatest fear and how often do you think about it?

Okay, this spider freaks me out!