I am not going to give into fear because I am afraid to die. Actually, I would consider being afraid in order to save my own butt, but I am not going to act on it. I have crossed that bridge and to live with myself knowing I quit being courageous in favor of being afraid would be a living hell. I would rather be gone from existence than to exist as a weakling dependent upon fear. I know that life is sacred and saving ourselves is a natural instinct. However, there are some instances where if life cannot be lived with a freedom or right to exist equal to all others then putting myself in jeopardy of death is appropriate to me. When I was young and still learning what life was all about, I did feign ignorance about fear. I told myself that it is okay to let my principles be compromised in order to fight another day. In some cases this is wisdom in action and in some other cases it was just an excuse for not being courageous about my point of view. Being afraid and locked down in fear is a real physical experience and it can make for an insurmountable obstacle to overcome. However, fear is nothing new and just because it saps our strength in short intervals, it can be defeated. I know this because I have had that locked down fear infiltrate every cell of my body, yet I made my mouth move to let out the words that defied the fear and moved my body despite the weakening feeling fear had me gripped in. I found that fighting back against fear is the first step toward finding my courage. Now my courage has life and I am not afraid that I may put myself in harm's way, I can live with the result, even if it takes my life away.
No comments:
Post a Comment