I am tired of being scared
You pretend you fly under the radar, but the truth is you are already on their watch list.
And even if you aren’t, so what?
What are you hiding from? Conflict?
What are you running from? Conflict with the lowest of the low?
Live your life. Live it boldly. Live it honestly.
You may respond:
What if they dox me?
What if they make fun of me?
What if they laugh at me?
What if they fire me?
What if…..?
You can fill in that blank with your greatest nightmare.
To live that way is to live in fear.
You feed that nightmare when you let such fears control your actions. You see others made into an example, and you call it “collective punishment.” Deplatforming, January 6, selective prosecution — the list is practically endless. You know it could happen to you next. And that’s exactly why collective punishment works — because people like you and I fear it and thereby let the lowest of people control your actions and my actions.
I have had enough.
Fear, inaction, and apathy are some of the greatest plagues among our side in the fight.
Lying is another problem.
And as soon as I point that fear out, almost every frightened person says “I’m not afraid.”
That is a lie.
Some even go so far as to call their cowardice “wisdom.” They even have the audacity to quote the Bible: “Be as wise as serpents, as gentle as doves,” as if that excuses cowardice. To call wisdom cowardice is not being honest.
That would be another lie.
I’ve learned to spot that lie a mile away. In the first sentence of an email I can see it. In the first words of a phone call I can hear it. In the way a person enters a room I can feel it.
Correcting the problem asks you to be truthful with yourself:
You’ve got to acknowledge what you are experiencing so that you can address what you are experiencing. The truth is — the above questions are all rooted in fear.
Better questions might be these:
Who do you serve?
What do you represent?
If you have the answers to those questions ironed out, then you have nothing to fear.
Your job, dear lion is to 1.) identify your boundaries, 2.) communicate your boundaries, and 3.) defend your boundaries.
And that is the same as saying to 1.) identify your values, 2.) communicate your values, and 3.) defend your values.
That’s all you need to do. If you can do that, dear lion, you save the day. You save the day for yourself and those around you.
It is that simple.
A lion spreads freedom everywhere he goes simply by behaving in that way. Little else is needed of him.
Asking about what will happen to you, asking about “What if this?” or “What if that?” or going down some contorted rabbit hole of perseveration and worry mentioned in some fringy corner of the internet — Well, it’s all just contorted.
That’s what your adversary wants your mind on, when in reality it’s all so simple.
It used to be scary for me to ask for money in exchange for my work. It also used to be scary to see people unsubscribe despite my most sincere attempts at giving my best.
What good is a posse that doesn’t have your back? What good is a writer who cowers in fear?
The time for fear is over.
I want to give more of me to this fight we are in — tap here to help me do that. Emails in which I don’t ask you to play some more involved role are a waste of your time and mine. Why should I ever be afraid to ask you to get more involved in a virtuous fight?
I also want people who are afraid of this fight to feel comfortable bailing out. You know how to do that. Cowardice can be contagious. It poisons others.
What a blessing it is that courage too is so very contagious, even more contagious than cowardice.
Of course, if you want to be encouraged more, stick around. There will be many more emails from me sent to encourage you, to give you heart, to buck you up if you are feeling defeated, to give you extra spring in your step even if you are already feeling like a champ.
Stick around and lots of encouraging emails asking you to get even more involved are in your future. And there’s a reason for that:
Times have changed. It’s not 1992 anymore. It’s not even 2020 anymore. We need to fight like we’ve never fought before.
I will continue to be the voice asking you to give more of yourself in every possible way to this righteous fight and I will continue to be the one charging head first into battle, pushing myself to give as much of me as I can to this righteous fight.
That’s what I will continue to do, because you know what? I’m tired of being scared.
That may also describe you.
Who’s with me?
Allan Stevo