A quote from Franklin Delano Roosevelt, president of the U.S. during Great Depression of the 1930s. Many believe that his New Deal program helped get the U.S. out of the depression; others give the credit entirely to WWII. Either way, the two Roosevelts (Teddy with his support for antitrust regulation, and FDR with the New Deal) helped make the U.S. slightly more socialist than it otherwise would have been. Nowhere near as much so as most of Europe, though.

R.E.M., in the song `Hyena', twisted this into ``The only thing to fear is fearlessness''.

I don't... I mean I don't know what to do. I mean, she's so beautiful, but she's way out of my league, but we're really good friends and all.

It's 1:20 in the morning and she's just dropped me off at home and when I walked up to my front door she waited at the end of the driveway, the car in park, not going anywhere. And when I finally unlocked and opened my front door she drove away, kind of slowly, I thought.

So I'm down in my room worrying that I missed something, some awful clue about her feelings towards me, something I'm just not smart enough to pick up on. I pace about the floor whispering obscenities, as my brain pours out a little plan to get her to come back. Ask her to come back to watch a movie with you. Do it. Do it now before she drives across town to her house.

"No! No! No!" screams the other voice in my head, the voice of the mind, "if you do that, god knows what will happen!" What? I might get her to come back here? We might sit on the couch and watch movies and sit close to each other? "No! You're going to screw it up. Your friendship will be destroyed, in tatters, in unrecognizable bits on the floor."

No it will not. That's it. I'm calling. "No! You can't do this!"

5 5 5 - 1 *click*

"You'll regret it."

5 5 5 - 1 2 1 *click*

"You'll hate yourself. And she'll hate you."

Shut up shut up. You can't stop me. I'm not letting you stop me. Never again.

5 5 5 - 1 2 1 2

*ring*

*ring*

*ring*

"Hello?"

"Er, hi. It's me. Umm... I know you're... half way across town by now and... I'm just and idiot but... I was wondering if you'd like to come back here and watch a movie...?"

"That would be so cool, but I have a curfew."

"Oh, I..."

"Yeah, I'm really sorry. My parents and I got in a big fight and now I have to be home by 1:30. But soon enough we can do cool stuff like that."

"O.K. Well, sorry. Bye."

"Call me sometime, 'kay? Bye."

It was not the answer I wanted. But... the voice was silent. That little voice that berated me and told me not to do things was quiet, oh so quiet. And I felt so good that I made the call despite the answer. Now, I understand that little voice of the mind, that tiny, hissing, berating, goddamn little voice. It is the voice of fear, and we have nothing to fear but fear itself.

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