My ethics is born from experience (Chapter from Memoirs of a Young Erasmus Student)
On Fear
A poem on fear
It is night in Orléans,
yet not too cold,
and we stopped under a bridge;
we came from a friend.
She is afraid and I see it.
I say to her:
“Next to me, fear nothing…”
By the same means you lose your fear of strangers you also gain courage: Knowing that you can do to them as they want to do to you.
To overcome the fear of darkness, stay in the dark until you will realize that it will not hurt you –in that moment, you will lose your fear and gain courage…[1]
[1] In other words: By the same means you lose fear you also gain courage.
Likewise: By the same means you do no evil you also do good, the fear of the Lord. (Jesus, the son of Sirach)
And: By the same means you lose pride –and you may have it, even if it is not for you, as Jesus, the son of Sirach, said –, you also gain meekness.
