Fear Only Has The Power You Give It

By: John Clise, Mountaineer News Contributor

Posted: March 19, 2020 | 02:24AM EST

Looking across our region we can see the many needs we have and the inability of leadership to meet those needs. We also see the lack of cooperation between groups that could be a powerful force to influence our elected officials along with CVBs and economic development agencies to make the needed calls to pressure our elected officials.

Here in the central West Virginia region we keep expecting someone else to magically fix all of our problems instead of us just taking things in hand and fixing what’s wrong ourselves. We don’t see the positive energy here and coax it into a greater effort.

We certainly can complain. We certainly can elect the same people over and over and over again. We can continue to try the same things over and over and over again with the same results, and then become angry, stressed, and beguiled by the same results.

We have an opportunity, with the upcoming election, to inject fresh energy, fresh ideas and change into some our most important offices up for grabs rather than recycle the same old office holders back into office yet again.

It is difficult to understand whether it is fear, laziness or self-preservation that keeps quality candidates from stepping forward to fight the battle against ignorance, stagnant policies, failing ideas, and cult of personality that pops up on social media in the form of keyboard warriors hiding in their bedroom late at night spewing stupidity, bitterness, self-importance, and quite frankly ignorance of all not like these racist manipulators of the feeble minded segments of our community.

Time and time again smart, forward thinking, passionate candidates are swept away by the complete and utter ignorance or total fear of those who want to keep the status quo as it is, rather than raising the bar for everyone in our region.

We embrace almost average instead striving to attain greatness. We allow ourselves to be silenced by a screaming minority of keyboard warriors afraid to lose their way of life. What exactly do these ignorant spreaders of lies, misinformation and racist hate hope to accomplish by silencing fresh and new voices? They see ‘Mericah as their half acre in hell and they will do anything to keep it just the way it is, even if it means ruining the future of our region for another generation.

These are the people we must stand up against. We can celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Jonathon Daniels, Ida B. Wells, Jamal Ahmad Khashoggi, Bayard Rustin, Herbert Lee, and a host of many others, but until we actively stand up against this tyranny it will continue to flourish, influence today and impact future generations.

Fear can be crippling but so is hunkering down and being the victim of ignorance, manipulation and scare tactics by loud talking bullies who force their ideas through intimidation, falsehoods and lies on our society.

Fear is a fire that has only the fuel you give it. Give it no further fuel.