The guy whose fear opened my eyes to the cowardice surrounding me wasn't really one of those "powards". He lacked any real power. But he was grateful for the powards who had made up, and enforced, the rules that gave him the fragile illusion of "safety". The illusion that he had accidentally glimpsed a crack in.
You could see the fear in his eyes as he spoke of the GUN he had almost encountered.
These cowards will never feel "safe enough". They would really like for everyone else to be as afraid as they are. Those who aren't shine the light of pity on the fearful. They expose the shortcoming. The cowards don't want to feel bad about themselves, so they would like to reduce everyone else to a quivering puddle so they'll have no one exposing them for the pathetic people they truly are.
So they advocate, pass, support, and enforce all manner of pointless and counterproductive "laws" that can never really even make them feel safe, while seeking to harm- yes, HARM- those who aren't as cowardly. Their rules actually make them much less safe by empowering the real bad guys. Which makes me wonder if the cowards actually get a thrill out of being fearful.
Of course, these "laws" could also be explained by the fact that the people who advocate, pass, support, and enforce them are just plain evil. So you are seeing the results of evil and/or cowardice.
There are things I am afraid of. Heights. Aggressive large dogs. Probably something else, too. The difference is that I am not such a coward that I want to level the world to remove all heights, ban people from washing windows on skyscrapers, or make big dogs "illegal". I know my fears are my problem and it isn't your obligation to coddle me.
Maybe this is why I feel such contempt for cowards. I have fears; I deal with them without violating you. Why won't they do the same? I think it's high time I insist they do.
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