I have always felt that fear is the worst stumbling block man has to face. It starts when we are very young, and goes with us to the grave. Fear stops our energies, robs us of our peace of mind, frustrates us in our ambitions. I feel very strongly about fear because I have lived with it most of my life. To meet me, you'd surmise that I was a confident, well-adjusted man but this is not entirely true. I have to fight fear every day of my life as I am sure do many of you. In 40 years I have found out a thing or two about fear which has better equipped me to meet this debilitating emotion. The first rule in overcoming fear is to meet it head on. The sale of thousands of tons of sleeping pills and tranquilizers in this country every year would indicate that that is precisely what we are NOT doing. Rather than facing our fears and problems and dealing with the hurt of them, however painful, we use the buffer of pills to soften the blow. Believe me, pills are no answer to fear. Each of us must battle with what frightens us, overcome it, and go onto the next fight. With each victory, no matter how painful or agonizing it may have been at the time, comes new courage and confidence and faith to meet the next fear. There is an old Gospel song that says "each victory will help you, some other to win” and I assure you, nothing could be more true. One important thing to remember is not to be too hard on yourself if you lose the odd battle. We all do. You can't win every time out. But when you do lose, get up and stare down that fear again, if you can learn to do this, I assure you someday you will be completely free of fear.
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