Mark Twain wrote in Pudd’nhead Wilson, “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear — not absence of fear.” Anyone who has faced a life-threatening event knows the truth of that statement. A common saying after World War II was, “there are no atheists in foxholes.” My greatest fear in Vietnam was that I might become frozen, so I always kept doing little things to constantly move. The enemy always seemed to use mortars before attacking. I had to wait until mortars stopped and the enemy attacked on foot to act. I had to continually move during that time, even if it was just a little thing. Mortars are antipersonnel weapons, and as such, they proceed an attack, there is nothing you can do but wait.
As a writer, I would be interested in other ways of coping in the face of great fears. You can either email me or reply to this post.
