What do you fear most?

My fear of snakes, I think, arose from several experiences I had when I was young. My fear of heights I can not explain.
I can not recall any time in my youth that would lead me to this irrational fear.
I never fell and injured myself by falling from a high place, and yet I have always been afraid of even climbing up a six foot ladder!
I now find it difficult to go past the third rung. That one I can understand for several reasons.
I am older, and not in the best of health.
With age you also begin to realize that you don't bounce back from injuries like you did when you were younger and would therefore be more cautious.
But the best reason is that several years ago I fell through a roof which had rotten timbers that gave way and knocked myself out and broke three ribs!
At least now I can have a rational explanation for my fear of heights!
A lot of people find it interesting that someone with such a fear of heights can enjoy flying. I also was going to get my private pilot's license and have just over 1 hour of logged time flying solo.
That was over twenty years ago now, and even though I was only hours away from getting my licence, a personal situation occurred which ended my dreams of ever reaching that goal.
Many people however are afraid of flying even though it is statistically the safest form of transportation. Why is this?
Although I am not a doctor or a psychiatrist, I do believe that most people are afraid of what they don't understand, or can explain rationally.
The more you understand about a subject, the less likely your fear will be.
Take flying for instance. On my first flight my instructor got me to 1500 feet  or so and then cut the throttle on the plane. Now this was my first flight and I was quite nervous anyway!
He then told me to bank the plane to the left so that I could have a good view of what was below. Being understandably nervous, (only in the air for my first ten minutes) I made a gentle bank.
He then said, "No like this", and put the plane into a steep bank (well it seemed steep to me at the time)and told me to" have a good look!"  This probably lasted for two seconds at the most, and I have to admit that I nearly wet myself. He then said " Do you see that field down there? The one with the cows?" and I hurriedly said yes!(as I'm thinking Oh s**t!) He then put the plane into its normal attitude and put the throttle back on and gave me control back. "The reason I did that,"he said,"was to let you know that even if we had an engine failure,(which is highly unlikely) that we would not drop out of the sky. We would circle around while gliding, to loose altitude, and land in that field with the cows, then find the farmer, use his phone to call for assistance, and have a cup of coffee with him until we could get a lift back to the airport.."
Now that may have seemed extreme, and if I was of a different disposition, could have put me off ever getting in the cockpit  of a plane again.
However, (and probably changing my underwear after I got home) I think was a very valuable lesson. I was afraid that if the plane had engine failure that it would fall like a rock.
I was shown that that could not and would not happen. So rather than deter me from continuing with further lessons, I think it may have encouraged me in some way.
This is because I was shown that my fear was unfounded.
Many people have fears of one thing or another.
My wife and I had a friend who was deathly afraid of birds.  To most people, that may sound ridiculous, especially since birds, even large birds of prey, will go out of their way to avoid any close contact with humans. I have to say that I can't blame them either. There are too many nasty humans(or so called humans), who, for whatever reason, have always found some sort of satisfaction in injuring and killing those more vulnerable.
I can remember when I was quite young, playing with my brother in our neighbour's yard and being attacked by some birds. We both found this to be extremely strange, and a bit frightening, as they were so aggressive, so we left the area and went to play on the swing set about twenty yards away. The birds did not follow us once we left that area we were in.
I think it was the next day or so that the same thing happened again. I decided to tell my father what had happened because it was so unusual, and he simply said that all they were trying to do was to protect their nest!
Can you imagine that?! Parents trying to protect their children!
Well the reason I mentioned that scenario was that I can understand that if a toddler were exposed to a similar situation that they would be terrified. They may also have been too young to have the situation explained properly. Years go by, the parents never even thinking that this was anything more than an interesting event,(why would they?) don't know that their child is going to somehow register that event as a terrifying experience. The child will not even know (consciously at least) why they are afraid. All the person knows is that they are afraid.
My particular phobias, are nothing compared to what some people have to deal with.
I am not even going to suggest any cures or treatments for people with a phobia that they would like to cure or deal with. That would be completely wrong and unethical.
I'm sure that you would be able to find many places on the internet that would promise you a cure. My suggestion, if you have a phobia which is affecting your life, and making you unhappy, would be to discuss it with your doctor. This could be extremely difficult if you are agoraphobic, and do not wish to leave your house, but your doctor is the only person you can trust in this matter.

Having said all that, I found a very interesting poll on the internet that I had to share with you. There are phobias and there are genuine fears.
This poll had one or two surprises. I wasn't surprised at some but rather surprised at others. I know which one I would mark, but I would like you to vote without being influenced.
I copied her current results and would like to see how the trend may change. Her site is more professional than mine, and in a slightly different category, but I love what she does.
The only alteration I made to the original poll was the first question where she asks the question  of George W. Bush's re-election. Since he can no longer be re-elected, I just made it his name.