Embrace Your Fear

4th of July weekend definitely has a way of bringing a sense of excitement into the air. It also takes you back to the time when you were a kid and couldn't wait to play with the fireworks.
Most "responsible" adults, like MY PARENTS, wouldn't let kids play with fireworks without direct, parental, supervision.
Therefore, we were left with no other alternative but to sneak some out of the house when they weren't home.

Fireworks, are awesome. As a matter of fact, they are only a couple of table spoons of gun powder away from being weapons of mass destruction.

So anyway, as with many things that I have done, I learned another valuable lesson in life, while playing with fireworks as a young boy.
Based on the things that I did growing up with firecrackers and small animals, a psychologist might have predicted that I was going to be a psychopathic killer when I grew up......but luckily I was just going through a phase.
At first, I was sooooo afraid of firecrackers. I wouldn't even dare to get close enough to one in order to light it, so my brothers or friends had to do it for me.
As I got more comfortable with them, I became very brave.........Actually, more like beyond brave.....somewhere in the realm of stupidity.

I would take on any dare that someone would give me.......I was the TATERING Evel Knievel, of firecrackers.
So anywho, one day I managed to get my hands on the "illegal" M90 firecracker. I had heard stories about how dangerous these things were, but I laughed in the face of danger and shit on the legacy of the great M90.
First, in order to find out just how powerful the M90 was, we tested it on a frog.

(*********I am unsure about the statute of limitations on animal cruelty crimes, so I will not confirm or deny what happened next......so let's just say that the M90 definitely deserved its reputation*********.)
Now that we had proven that this was the most powerful firecracker ever, I was dared to hold it in my hand, light it, and throw it at the last possible moment, before it would blow off my hand.
Shit, .....I didn't even need a double-dog-dare before I shouted  "give that damn thing....I'll show you".

I don't think I have to even go any further with this story, because you all know exactly what happened.
The lesson that I learned that day, was this:
Fear is a God given mechanism that protects us and keeps us alive. The moment that a person loses his/her fear is the moment they are most susceptible to danger or death.


The moment I lost my fear of firecrackers, was the same time that I lost respect for them and what they could do to me. The most dangerous thing is the one that you respect the least.
The same is true in all aspects of life...........ESPECIALLY WITH PEOPLE.

Embrace your fear,
Let go of disrespect,
And you will survive.