I cannot say how many times when I have stood up against my own fear and found that the fear was mostly just an allusion. It seems that being afraid of things is mostly just in our heads. Sure, there are real times when our fear is justified and we need to take an account of the facts of that but even then it is better to stand up and move past fear with courage. I am not telling anyone to sacrifice their life in order to make a point but I have on occasion put myself in jeopardy and then found that the threat I had feared didn't have the conviction to follow through. Life is a gamble for sure and most of us would rather it be peaceful and serene. Yet if we don't protect and defend what we know is right we are the ones destroying our peace. Courage is the answer and all that courage is is to do whatever needs being done despite the paralyzing fear it may manifest. Most of us are scared when we are being courageous. So courage exists in many forms and just because we are afraid doesn't mean that we can't also be courageous at the same time. I don't have to be full of steely resolve to display courage. I often have been squeaky voiced and wobbly kneed while standing up to fear. But fear, like most bullies, will shrink from those who will not be bullied. Once you get a taste for standing up to fear you will find that the alternative becomes unacceptable. It takes courage to fight for democracy and only the courageous can truly live a life of equality, justice and liberty. For those who choose to live in fear because courage is too much for them to experience, well they are trapped in a society where they abdicate their authority over themselves to the cowardly who instill fear as a tactic for control.
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