Timidity's power

The forces which govern our hearts and actions are amazingly strong. Feeling, impulse, and desire account for more of what we do than logic and reason. There are two powers at work within us, two forces that have nothing to do with either logic or reason, which govern nearly every action we choose.
There is, first, courage. A noble attribute that many feel they aspire to, and is often used as a compliment. This is an impulse necessary in any hero, and often a vital theme running through story books. Like all things in story books, it is very hard to find in real life. Fairy tales and best-sellers would have us thinking that courage is a powerful force, quite common in the world and attainable for all but the weak, feeble people who disgrace themselves and become villains.
The timid, the weak, those who serve themselves and take no risks, are often reviled, belittled, and tossed to one side. No one likes a tattletale, someone who puts their own well-being before others. Everyone wants to see the small, sniveling wretch who has never been nice to anyone get his comeuppance. They do not imagine that his meanness stems from the fact that no one has ever treated him with kindness. The heroes do not see that they are at fault, because of their own cowardice.
To treat others with kindness takes courage. To be nice to the beaten and the bruised, the people who don’t merit it, is the highest form of courage. To give and not care if the person you help turns and spits in your eye. We need to see more of this courage in the world. I need to see more of it in myself. In its place, something much stronger holds sway, bends my will, and makes me less than I would like to be.
Timidity is a paradox. It makes us shrink from doing the hard things. It makes us think more of ourselves, and less of others. It implies that we are weak. Yet it is very strong. Timidity comes far swifter than courage, and lasts far longer. It is far harder to dislodge or dissuade, and rears its ugly head again and again. Just when we think we have banished it, it returns. Swallowing our fear to act with courage once will not keep it from popping up again when we least expect.