Fear In your Eyes

Today happens to be one of the defining days of my life. I saw fear, fear in the eyes of a naturalised american. What was it? Fear of failure - a hard to accept reality of a timely checkup missed or something of a more serious nature, loss of livlihood. Whatever it is seems that certain aspects of life have the power to strike fear even in the developed world.What separates him from me, why is it that he is afraid whereas am not. The only answer that I can conjure at this moment is he lacks "fire in the belly". He has never faced failure, never been in the striking distance of it, never known what it is going to sleep with an empty stomatch with dreams of a better tommorow, has never endured any hardship that has been a way of life for me.Driving a BMW, living in a farm-house, post grad from an esteemed US varsity, loving wife and an adorable daughter, high flying job - seems every man's dream, yet the man in front of me Mr Marcelotti has it all and more. He has lived more dreams than I can fathom. Yet the voice quivered, the gaze potrayed a blank stare the words betrayed a sense of despair and the emotional outburst portrayed a man who has lost it all.Always i had heard that he has so much to lose whereas i had none, is it that or the cliched "The higher you go, the higher does your a** stick up".No it is not - Fear of failure shows up much earlier than the whiff of success. "Is it your first failure?". I bet it is but mind you he has not failed yet. you cannot give up a fight without actually giving it a final bite. the last surge of adrenaline - fight till you drop phenom.Am not afraid; am not going to quit but will fight till my last breath, however distant the goal maybe; am not afraid to slog 50 hours, 60 maybe 70 but amsure to pull it off - dream of a better tommorow....So what is the key differentiator. The high flying high-handedness or the rustic fighting spirit.The difference lies in the ATTITUDE; thats what clinches the deal for you- degrees, fellowships are feathers in the cap, hard/smart work takes you to the required threshold of activity, but finally ATTITUde wins it for you.