A Nation of Cowards?
I repeated “No, thank you” and the young lady replied “I hate to do this but . . .”. She proceeded to remove a binder filled with yellowed newspaper clippings about infants who were injured or killed because parents failed to put them in a safe high chair. Her actions were designed to instill fear so that I would agree to purchase an over priced chair. I didn’t get afraid; I got angry.
I wonder why some people react with fear and others react with anger to the same situation?
I felt some fear as a youngster and learned quickly to confront it. As I grew up I heard the words “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. I can’t remember my father ever exhibiting fear and I learned that to be a man is to be unafraid.
I knew my father and uncles as brave men who took a stand for their beliefs. I saw the limps from war injuries and the braces and specially constructed shoes and the flesh that continued to ooze and not heal. At their point in history they controlled their fear and did what had to be done.
I was amazed the first time I read these words and they continue to pique my interest. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur (Revelations 21:8). The Bible equates fear with murder and sexual immorality! Fear is listed first as if it's the worst sin. Other translations use different words – afraid, fearful, craven -- but the meaning is clear. I find this ironic. I’ve attended church services where evangelists tried to scare the hell out of people!
Yesterday, a TV commercial for a congressional candidate tried to convince me that the candidate is an expert on terrorism. It’s absurd. American soldiers in Iraq and other parts of the world are expected to be brave and overcome their fear in the face of real danger. American citizens in the comfort and safety of the US are asked to be afraid and vote out of fear.
Are you a candidate and do you want me to vote for you? Do you want to present your religion to me? Do you want to sell me a product? Don’t try to manipulate me with fear.
I don’t get afraid. I get angry.
I wonder why some people react with fear and others react with anger to the same situation?
I felt some fear as a youngster and learned quickly to confront it. As I grew up I heard the words “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. I can’t remember my father ever exhibiting fear and I learned that to be a man is to be unafraid.
I knew my father and uncles as brave men who took a stand for their beliefs. I saw the limps from war injuries and the braces and specially constructed shoes and the flesh that continued to ooze and not heal. At their point in history they controlled their fear and did what had to be done.
I was amazed the first time I read these words and they continue to pique my interest. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur (Revelations 21:8). The Bible equates fear with murder and sexual immorality! Fear is listed first as if it's the worst sin. Other translations use different words – afraid, fearful, craven -- but the meaning is clear. I find this ironic. I’ve attended church services where evangelists tried to scare the hell out of people!
Yesterday, a TV commercial for a congressional candidate tried to convince me that the candidate is an expert on terrorism. It’s absurd. American soldiers in Iraq and other parts of the world are expected to be brave and overcome their fear in the face of real danger. American citizens in the comfort and safety of the US are asked to be afraid and vote out of fear.
Are you a candidate and do you want me to vote for you? Do you want to present your religion to me? Do you want to sell me a product? Don’t try to manipulate me with fear.
I don’t get afraid. I get angry.
posted by Paul at 11:01 AM
5 Comments:
Bravery is demonstrated not by being fearless, but rather by acting appropriately in the face of fear. The bravest act I have ever committed was to jump off of a 30' diving tower. Heights scare the hell out of me. When I took my swimming test I had to be pushed off the tower. The humiliation stayed with me until I conquered the fear many years later.
Over the last two generations we seem to have become a nation that is ruled by their fears, instead of learning to face fear as a natural part of the human experience.
We seem to have become a nation that would rather abrogate responsibility than accept it.
And now we are reaping the consequences.
And more the shame.
The first step on the road to perdition has always been fear. Hitler used it, Malosovich used it, they ALL use it, using it to turn our attention towards THEM, the "enemy" so that they can weave their webs of control over us. This is why a free press is utterly essential to the survival of our freedoms, for an unfettered press will bring the focus back to where the true evils are. Then comes hatred, then genocide, then the death of life and liberty.
And you wonder why Bin Laden has yet to be caught.......
Fear tactics have been around for centuries. Just take a gander at religion, too muych sex makes ya go blind etc etc etc.
Even to day tele marketers put the hard word on you and will use any method to get a sale.
You walk down the street and a group of lads are talking you walk around them, they may shout abusive comment at you or your partner, what do you do?
Walk away!
Why?
Because you don't want to get in to trouble either by copping a beating or dishing one out. You lose either way.
That is the fear I fear the most!
You see Paul, too me situations like what I have written above, strip you of your right to freedom and it happens all the time every where.
That is a sad thing!
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Thank you - excellent post ...
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”
... spot on!
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