Sarah K.
This I Believe

NO FEAR

    'That which blocks your ears is worthless fear. What is there to fear? Cast off your Fear! Look forward! Go forward! Never stand still. Retreat and you will age. Hesitate and you will die. Shout! My name is...' When I first heard this quote it struck my soul. If I run from what is real because of my fears of others and their reactions, how can I have an opinion or life? We as a people won't listen to a wise person because we fear that what we think is right is wrong. Or what we have been taught is wrong. When Lincoln first said his Gettysburg address,  no one liked it. After some time: Like years: we learned that he was right. I don't live in fear of the truth. Sometimes it is brutal. Sometimes the truth can smack me upside the head. And most of the time it hurts.  But it is the truth.
     I cannot 'block my ears with worthless fear'.  What is there to fear? A well-deserved lesson I can teach my grandchildren? I look forward to new truths and challenges. I will take my fear of the unknown and toss it aside! I want to move forward and not stand still. Go to a new place; find a lesson needed to be learned. Can I learn without truth by my side?
     'Retreat and you will age.' Ones who run away from a desperate situation can't look forward. When I am faced with a situation where someone is in trouble, I will help them. If I turn away someone in need I will age from the guilt that I carry. Do I have time to be afraid when someone is in a burning car? NO. I will jump in and get those people out.  If those people die because I was afraid of what would happen the guilt would age me so much more then a burn scar.
     'Hesitate and you will die.' Already I have learned that lesson is very much connected to fear. When I was very little I was walking across the street and a car came screaming out of the corner. I stopped in the middle of the road. If it wasn't for the man who pulled me out of the way I would have died. The world does not stop to let you think. In a fight you cannot hesitate, the enemy will take advantage of your moment of weakness and kill you. If I can't do something on the spot someone will snatch the opportunities away from me. I could have been successful, and happy, but I hesitated and didn't get the job because I feared that I wouldn't get it.
     Fear is a crippling thing.  We block our ears from the truth of others.  I can't fear what may or may not happen.  When I am faced with a desperate situation I must throw my fear out the window. I cannot retreat. I cannot hesitate. I will not die from fear.

Quote( Zangetsu from Bleach
Bleach ( Tite Kubo.

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