FEARLESSNESS

fear
a nagging preoccupation
with what others might say or think
fear of failure
fear of inadequacy
fear of losing face
fear of treading on a few toes
fear of making a faux pas
fear of not living up to expectations
fear of fear itself
fear like a cancer
eating away at you
imprisoning you inside its invisible walls
a prison of the mind
a belljar
pinning you to your deathbed
many times i have been afraid
where has it got me?
precisely nowhere
it is the cold war era
a skinny 10-year-old picks up a newspaper
and starts to read
the article talks of an arms race
towards preeminence in a thermonuclear war
the ability of the superpowers
to reduce the world to ashes
at the push of a button
a little bit of childhood innocence dies that day
fear is a weapon
a source of power
used to control
to keep others in their place
the only thing that can defeat it is fearlessness
a stubborn refusal to passively submit
a refusal to take up arms against the oppressor
'no war - i hate bush'
reads an ugly slogan on an ugly wall
so you hate an ugly man
who has lived an ugly life
doing ugly things to people
do you think that's gonna help?
what effect does hating have on you?
does it make you feel better to vent your spleen?
or does it just multiply and spread more hate?
the hardest thing to do
is to retain compassion
in the face of deeply misguided and abusive individuals
but it is them who need it the most
when the world is a monster
trying to swallow you whole
remember that each moment is in itself bearable
don't give up
just keep on trying