Fear breeding misery in the land

“ONCE a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear,” Harry Truman, the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953, said.

The question looms: Do we accept the situation where in effect our own fear holds us captive? It might feel safe to be dictated to, but that safety is an illusion because someone else is the master of our fate. The silent are complicit. Do we want to change it? How then is this pattern broken when the problem is so big and individually, we are so small?

The process of transforming fear into courage begins inside. We need to choose to be courageous in small ways over things within our control.

If this is a new path, we will find it expands as we enter that space of courage. The more fearful we are, the more potential we have for courage.

This new direction in life has consequences and we need courage to keep stepping into the unknown. The consequences guide our path into the future. Hold on to integrity and the new choices open infinitely before us. Courageous options spring up within our minds.

Easy to say, difficult to do. If our courage expands into the political arena, then we realise the significance of Truman’s insight.

We need to be the change we want to see. Silence is replaced by our voice and our actions. We have a universal right to express ourselves. We need to stand up for our children’s sake, to the bully in our playground.

In choosing courage, we are very much not alone. In fact, if we choose to continue to accept fear as our guide, we are on the wrong side of history and will be increasingly alone.

The people understand very clearly that the President Emmerson Mnangagwa-led government will never bring development.