Omnipotence

WHAT AM I?
I am the great paralyzer of ability, the murderer of aspiration and
ambition, the destroyer of energy, the killer of opportunity.
I am the cause of more suffering, more human misery and loss, more
tragedies and wretchedness than any other one thing.
I have cursed more human beings, arrested the development of more
fine ability, strangled more genius and stifled more talent than anything
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else in the world.
I have shortened vast multitudes of lives and sent more people to the
insane asylum, to crime and suicide than men dream of.
I cause chemical changes in the brain which cripple efficiency and ruin
careers.
I deprive human beings of more things that are good for them, things
that fit their nature, and that they were intended to enjoy, than any other
one agent.
I cause men and women to wear poor, shabby clothes, to look dejected
and forlorn, when it is the right of every human being to look up, to be welldressed,
attractive, and happy.
I shut out the sun of hope and cause men to see everything in a
distorted light because I make them look on the shadow side of things.
I devitalize people and make chronic invalids of men and women who
should be enjoying perfect health.
I am the devil's most effective instrument. If he can once get the bare
suggestion of me into the human consciousness at the psychological
moment, he can work destruction to the most ambitious, the greatest
genius.
I starve and stunt minds, and keep vast multitudes of people in
ignorance.
I usually attack a man when he is down, when things have gone wrong,
and he is feeling blue. When he is tired, fatigued, devitalized, I find an easy
entrance to his mind, because then his courage is not so keen, his brain is
not so alert, and he has less dare in his nature.
I find that the best time to work on my victims is in the afternoon. In the
morning men are too vigorous mentally, have too much vitality and energy,
too much courage, to give in to me, but along in the afternoon when the
body and brain begin to weary of work, and the whole man feels a bit
fagged, I can tackle the great mental scheme which was in the forefront of
the brain in the forenoon, when the faculties were clean-cut, and unless my
victim is alert I soon have him under my control.
I am the greatest human deceiver. Once I get into the mind, I can make a
giant believe he is a pygmy, and of no account. I can cut down his selfrespect
until in his own estimation he is a very ordinary man.
I have a twin brother, Doubt, who is called the great traitor. He is always
ready to help me to finish my little game. We work together, and when
under our control it is impossible for a man to be resourceful, original, or
effective.
I creep into a man's mind after he has resolved to branch out on new
lines, to step out from the beaten path and blaze his own way, and weaken
his ardor, dampen his enthusiasm, and make him feel inefficient and
helpless. I whisper in his ear, "Go slow; better be careful. Many abler men
than you have fallen down trying to do that very thing. It is not the time to
start this thing; you had better wait, wait, wait."
I haven't a single redeeming thing in my nature, and yet I have more
influence with the human race than has any one of the finer, nobler
qualities which help to bring man up to the height of his possibilities.
I AM DISCOURAGEMENT