By The Toledo Tribune
In the quiet hours of the morning, when the coffee is still too hot and the world has not yet made up its mind about what kind of day it’s going to be, we find ourselves faced with choices. Choices about how we will stand, how we will speak, and whether we will let fear take the wheel or keep it firmly in the hands of courage, integrity, and love.
Fear has a way of making itself useful—or at least, it tries. It whispers that silence is safer, that caution is wisdom, that standing still is better than standing tall. It tells us that if we speak too boldly, we might be cast out; if we challenge the wrong people, we might lose what we have; if we do what is right rather than what is easy, we might regret it. But fear, for all its noise, is a liar.
Decisions made in fear never rest easy. They haunt us in the restless hours, pressing against the edges of our thoughts like unfinished business. Fear breeds discontent—it makes us blame others for our own lack of courage. It fosters resentment, turns friends into enemies, and makes enemies seem far more powerful than they truly are. Fear divides, disrupts, and destroys, and yet, too often, we invite it in like an old friend.
But when we choose differently—when we choose loyalty over self-preservation, wisdom over impulse, hope over despair, and love over cowardice—something remarkable happens. We find peace. We find that, even in the face of opposition, there is strength in doing what is right. We find that integrity is its own reward, that truth has a way of rising, and that those who stand in the light, though they may be bruised by the storm, are never truly broken by it.
And so, to those who have faced their fears—the fear of retaliation, the fear of ridicule, the fear of resentment—and have chosen to stand firm, we thank you. To those who have entrusted us with your concerns, who have spoken even when your voice trembled, who have refused to let fear make your choices for you, we see you. The Toledo Tribune will stand with you, as we gently bring things to the light of the people.
Because in the end, fear may knock at the door, but it does not have to be the one who answers.
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