#davesdailychallenge (132): Fear. In his many discussions concerning Senator Joseph McCarthy’s efforts to root out Communists in the 1950’s, Edward R. Murrow said the following words:

“We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep into our own history and our doctrine and remember that we are not descended from fearful men, not men who feared to write, to speak, to associate, and to defend causes which were for the moment unpopular.”

I can’t help but read these words and draw parallels to some of the things we are currently witnessing in our own political show. Don’t worry I’m not getting political here…you’re bombarded with enough of that every day. Instead, all I’ll say is this…regardless of whether or not you want to admit it; regardless of whether or not you know it; regardless of whether or not you’ve experienced it first hand, much of the world looks to America in times of great hardship. If our country, even with all of its imperfections, is still a beautiful experiment in free expression and the heights of human endeavor, then when did we become so damned afraid of everything? We’re afraid of offending everyone with the slightest of words. Many of us are afraid of failure to the point where we’ve stopped trying with the internal excuse of “at least I won’t fail”. We’re afraid of taking a stand on something; anything; and fighting for it passionately right up to the point when/if we’re proven wrong. At that point we’ve become afraid to admit we’re wrong and pivot accordingly. We’re afraid of standing by those who need us in the greatest hour of need because it might make us look unpopular. We are afraid of moral courage. 

We are not a fearful people. With all humility, coming from an imperfect person, I challenge you to act accordingly.