Foolish

When people are afraid to try, it's not failure they're afraid of per se. Rather, it's failing and looking like a fool in the process.

The fact of the matter is, no one likes to be remembered as the one who snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, who choked during crunch time, who fumbled what should otherwise have been a sure thing. The fact that failure follows from each we can live down. But being remembered by people we know as the fool who pissed it all away -- being that guy -- is something we can't seem to abide.

So rather than stick one's neck out when it can make a difference, the default reaction is to duck and cover, and prepare to watch the train wreck that can only result in another person crashing and burning like a fool.

What's ironic is that these are the same people who have no qualms about the fools they make themselves out to be on their blogs and social networking sites. These are the same individuals who worry about looking like an idiot in front of their boss and co-workers but have no reservations uploading silly photos of themselves or posting mundane stupidities about what they're eating, wearing or buying. The difference, however, is that the latter behavior is actually rewarded by one's "friends" with comments, "likes" or "shares", creating an ever-increasing spiral of shallowness, fickleness, and ultimately, foolishness.

No one suffers fools lightly. Yet sometimes we are bigger fools than we care to admit.