I am not afraid

[Mythsaje]

I refused to be ruled by fear.

I refuse to let all their anti-American legislation to force me to walk away from what I do here. I will NOT let their arm-twisting and legal wrangling make me shed the part of me that is willing to speak freely.

I am an American. I am a child of the 1st Amendment.

I will not be told to hold my tongue. If I am, I will not obey. The right to speak freely, to criticize those who hold high places, to condemn those who commit heinous crimes in my name. I reserve this right without being called a traitor, guilty of sedition, or un-American.

I am none of these things. I'm a believer in America, in Americans, in the dream that was America.

I once saw a tee-shirt that said:

"If this is no longer the land of the free, I sure hope it's the home of the brave."

I find this an appropriate phrase, even though I spotted this shirt in the mid-eighties. Hell, I thought it was fairly appropriate then.

I was pretty radical in my youth. Not noisily so. But radical still the same. I had a feeling this stuff was coming, and tried to warn everyone throughout the Reagan years. I even pointed out the things that made me edgy during the Clinton administration.

Like the acceleration of the Drug War, which I saw as a way to test the public's response to attacks on the 4th Amendment in particular. How much liberty they'd be willing to trade for the illusion of security.

I won't bow under the pressure or shrink in fear from their bullying. I had my fill of bullying when I was a kid.

Never again.

After all, what are they going to do--take away my Birthday?

[everythingsxen]

1. I must not fear..

"I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain." - Litany against fear, from Frank Herbert's Dune series.

Horror has a face... and you must make a friend of horror. Horror and moral terror are your friends. If they are not then they are enemies to be feared. They are truly enemies. - Marlon Brando as Col. Kurtz in Apocolypse Now

"The only thing we have to fear is fear it'self - nameless, unreasoning, unjustified, terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."
---- FDR - First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1933

"Courage is not the lack of fear but the ability to face it."
---- Lt. John B. Putnam Jr. (1921-1944)

http://phobialist.com/fears.html

[TahitiNut]

2. Yep. Viktor Frankl had it right.

:thumbsup: Choose happiness.

[BanzaiBonnie]

3. Thank you mythsaje

As you hear more and more dire predictions for the coming term, do not be discouraged, do not fear. Feelings of peace and love are what is needed at this time. Fear is not useful. It only adds energy to the storm and stress.

As immense openings are created for fear, turmoil and trespass, monumental is the opportunity we have to put in place love, peace and justice. And the wonderful thing is that the weight for peace is in our corner. We really are in the middle of a shift in consciousness. This is big. It is evolution.

The whole place is evolving, changing before your eyes. It not a trick, you are seeing the death throes of the Old and are helping manifest the New. As it is within our own bodies, old cells that break down have a limited life span and then they are replaced with new cells. Do you think it would be any different in the greater span? As above, so below.

No matter what form, life continues and what you are seeding now is what will be growing in the field when we get there.

Always, there is life. Always a spark. Time in and time out, always evolving, finding a better way --- a more fulfilling expression.

There is no time to dwell in fear. Love yourself, for you are the divine expression. Hold that love in your heart and let it grow. That's the way to make this work. Then, as you walk in the world you'll spread peace wherever you go.


8000forpeace.com/

[serryjw]

4. NOT fear...YES, paranoia

A little fear is healthy..keeps you paying attention