On Fear

You can find versions of this on the intertubes. The tone is a little overwrought, but it makes a valuable point:



I am fear. I am the menace that lurks in the paths of life, never visible to the eye but sharply felt in the heart. I am the father of despair, the brother of procrastination, the enemy of progress, the tool of tyranny. Born of ignorance and nursed on misguided thought, I have darkened more hopes, stifled more ambitions, shattered more ideals and prevented more accomplishments than history can record.

Like the changing chameleon, I assume many disguises. I masquerade as caution. I am
sometimes known as doubt or worry. But whatever I'm called, I am still fear, the obstacle of achievement.

I know no master but one. Its name is understanding. I have no power but what the human mind gives me, and I vanish completely when the light of understanding reveals the facts as they are, for I am really nothing.

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