So your life is ruled by fear?

My life is ruled by GRATITUDE, that I wasn't born with my skin inside out, that I wasn't born in the depths of deprivation without human rights or the chance to learn to read- that I can walk and taste and not get raped every morning in a shadowed prison courtyard, the problem seems to me that I am not afraid to acknowledge these worldly execrations.

I see relative blessing where the normal person might see "failure", shrug, and start using methamphetamines because what the fuck, his or her life sucks so bad. Until you live in the middle of an abandoned desert village drinking your own urine and waiting for the soldiers to return to string your innards up around the waiting brush your life is not that terrible. I am so pleased that I do not have to worry about the local animals laying eggs in my brain, constant earthquakes, or accidentally walking on a fifty-year old landmine that I try not to take these advantages for granted, so I seize the day... and I'm glad I have the ability to draw such distinctions from the normal goings-on around me.

We as humans like to think of ourselves as more invincible, attractive, and intelligent than average thanks to psychological flaws but this is not well-grounded reality at all. Setbacks can and will happen to all of us. Luckily the information exists out there to avoid or lessen with forethought most of the difficulties people become most commonly afflicted with: as Thomas Jefferson said "He is the best pilot, who steers clearest of the rocks and shoals".