Fear Is a Stomach Ache in Disguise

In a recent issue of the Nature Conservancy's magazine, Sanjayan, a lead scientist for them, was asked by David Letterman about the fate of our planet. During the course of the interview, Sanjayan came to the conclusion that the environmental movement had "...done a spectacular job of demoralizing and depressing people." And depressed people are paralyzed people. They begin to feel the hopelessness and the uselessness of even trying.

And that is where I believe we begin to let go of the control of the personal freedoms that we should jealously guard . We know that the truth has to lie somewhere between the voices on the right and the voices on the left. Especially when they start to shout to be heard. When that happens, you should automatically stop listening. Maybe even, run.

What I believe drives people more than any other emotion is fear. I was told that jealousy was really anger disguised and when I look back all my anger was really merely fear. Different fears at different times under different circumstances. Even when people are angry, what underlies that anger is "don't hurt me."

Example of the right not wanting to be hurt: "Don't let me live in fear without my guns and freedom of religion and gas guzzling cars."

Example of the left: "I'm afraid to live with your guns and your religious freedom and your gas guzzling cars."

How about the middle: "I can live with your guns if you keep them safely and use them for hunting and personal protection. Practice the religion you wish and I will choose mine, and I will treat it with respect if you respect mine. I may need a large vehicle for work or to pull a trailer to earn a living or enjoy my free time. I may also have a fuel efficient car in the garage that I use whenever I can. Face it, I don't like the high gas prices either."

So I'm not going to let them scare me anymore. Tell me only the truth and not all the loud rhetoric. Let me form my own unique opinions and work for what is right. For fear has done nothing but corrupt and destroy the world around us.

Fear of a prophesy that his son would overthrow him and be king, the Greek titan Cronos (or Roman god Saturn), the god of time and ages, would swallow each of his children when they were born. Eventually, he was tricked by his wife and made to disgorge the children by his son Zeus, who had been hidden from him. His actions based on his fears resulted only in a bad stomach ache and changed nothing.

What prophesies do you fear? Better yet, what will you do when you no longer fear?