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REFUSE TO BE AFRAID

23 Jul

By Errol Flynn

Woman’s World – March 1939

“All my life I’ve fought fear, because I believe it is the only real menace to a man’s hopes and peace of mind.”

— Tim

 
5 Comments

Posted in Author Errol Flynn, Collectibles, Gentleman Tim, Main Page, Newspapers & Magazines

 

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  1. timerider

    July 23, 2018 at 3:52 pm

    It’s great to see seed packets! I sold them door to door as a kid. Today it’s hard to get the natural seeds as monster Monsanto wants the corner on that market. Their seeds are very suspicious to me.
    “Fear is the mind killer” one author has written. However healthy paranoia can save your life at times. Branson found out many times he could have died. Many a fool has rushed in only to find death there. I loved the quote of FDR, “nothing to fear but fear itself”

     

    • Gentleman Tim

      July 25, 2018 at 8:58 am

      A door to door seed salesman, timerider! Something Flynnie himself should have/could have/may have done himself a time or two!

      Here are the two F’s themselves, sharing a fearless laugh at that other famously fearless fellow, George Patton’s, 3rd Calvalry Headquarters, Fort Myer, Virginia:

      www.theerrolflynnblog.com…

      Patton was assigned to Fort Myer four times and used the building as his headquarters from 1938 to 1940, the very time ELF and FDR were photoed there, as depicted in the link above. Patton was likely there at the show.

      www.google.com…

       

  2. Jack Marino

    July 25, 2018 at 2:09 am

    When I was around 16, I was reading everything I could get my hands on about actor Errol Flynn. As I kept reading deeper and deeper into this remarkable young man’s life, he became for me an inspiration to leave all that I love and break into the film business.

    I found this article in an old movie magazine. I kept it and years later I typed it up so, I could read it when times out here got tough. I was inspired with this rambling young man who came out of Hobart Tasmania, up the great barrier reef, through the gold fields of New Guinea, to India, England, then ending up in Hollywood to become the biggest star in the world, he achieved immortality. Errol Flynn never feared anything and he lived one hell of an adventurous life on screen as well as off.

    I wanted to share this article with everyone, because I hear a lot of fear and defeatism out there on the internet and radio shows about how all is lost with America. Even though Errol burned himself out at the age of 50, there is a lot of truth in this article, that we all can learn from and use it in our daily lives, especially in these trying times we find ourselves in. Errol never had any regrets and as he said, ”I’ve had a hell of a lot of fun, I’ve enjoyed it, every minute of it.”

    – Jack Marino

    REFUSE TO BE AFRAID
    By Errol Flynn

    Nobody can afford to be afraid.

    All my life I’ve fought fear because I believe it is the only real menace to a man’s hopes and peace of mind. There are ways around every obstacle – but not around fear. We must meet that head-on, or spend our lives retreating. If fear gets us on the run, everything in life is futile.

    That’s why I believe in taking chances. If fear warns us against something we want to do, we should ignore that warning and plunge ahead. Just to defy fear, if for no other reason.

    Experience has not taught me that it is always best to take chances, but l would rather suffer the consequences of mistakes than letting fear handcuff me. To me, the only real defeat is giving in to fear.

    Fear is all around us. It is as natural to us as love. Only fools never know fear. Many times it has laid its hand on my shoulder and slithered its finger up my spine. I’m not ashamed of being afraid, but I wince at the thought of staying afraid. To sense fear is no disgrace. The bravest men I’ve ever known had to whistle to keep from running. The shame and the folly lie in not fighting fear.

    When I talk of a man’s obligation to fight fear, it’s only fair to admit that I have an advantage. I’m a fatalist. That helps a lot. When you believe fate has your schedule all made out, and that disaster won’t strike until your number comes up, you have terror whipped.

    But terror is only fear’s tom-tom. Its deadliest thrusts are dealt with in silence. Fear can work miracles with little things – like putting you ill at ease among strangers, making you afraid to speak your mind, kidding you into avoiding unpleasantness, and making a mental and moral coward out of you in a hundred different ways.

    Personally, I think there is only one way we can control our own lives and become “creators of circumstances” instead of “creatures of circumstances.” That is to refuse to be afraid to do the things we want to do: to refuse to be pushed around until we have nothing to do with steering our own lives.

    Unless we fight fear we must give in to conventions, and live according to the pattern. If we submit to fear by sacrificing our courage in exchange for security, we are regimented until we have no individualities

    To me, that condition is absolutely abhorrent. I want to be an individual, with a hand on the tiller of my life. I’d rather steer into breakers than be towed into stale backwaters. I’d rather be an independent, free-thinking pauper than a fear-and-convention-bound millionaire
    .
    We should fight fear so we can stand against the present-day trend toward paternalism, and not degenerate into living in platoons and being deprived of every liberty.

    If we believe in individualism and self-respect, we should fight fear and dare consequences. By refusing to surrender to fear we can prevent our minds from being made up for us in mass formation. The loss of liberty is too great a price to pay for security, which, in the end, exists only when we win it for ourselves.

    We should make a business of having the courage of our convictions. We should make a business of this, just as we make a business of training for a profession or business career. Fighting fear is the most vital business in our lives.

    Fear, and fear alone has made the people of the dictator-dominated countries the pitiful slaves they are. Fear to act for themselves, fear to speak for themselves, fear to think for themselves, I believe we should grimly determine to go after what we want, no matter what the cost. If we fight hard enough for what we want, we’ll be too busy to suffer from not having it. And as long as we keep fighting, we can’t feel the sting of defeat.

    I would rather take a chance and lose than to admit to myself that I didn’t have the courage to try. I’d rather make a hundred mistakes, and take the consequences for everyone, than to grovel in the dirt because fear had its foot on my neck.

    That’s why I say, “Refuse to be Afraid.” Refuse to submit to that mild form of cowardice known as self-consciousness. Recognize bashfulness and an inferiority complex for what they are – fear.

    Refuse to refrain from saying what you want to say for fear your tongue may get thick or your speech muddled. Refuse to slink in the background for fear of a rebuff. Refuse to be cowed by conventionalities.

    I’m an authority on these weaknesses and submission to fear because I’m still battling them. And whipping them with growing ease. And here’s a pleasant fact to remember: every time you fight fear you are making your next encounter with it less difficult. Every time you fail to fight, you make the next tilt tougher. Whip fear in the little things, and you’ll have two strikes on it in the big things. To always fight is the important thing; as two-thirds of the accomplishment in the world is due not to ability, but to the courage to try. You can’t afford to be afraid.

     

  3. Damien111

    August 16, 2024 at 1:20 am

    How can I get access to the full article?