I remember reading a few years ago that the fear that ranks number one in the minds of the majority far above the fear of death and the fear of cancer or snakes is the fear of public speaking.

We all want to be a star. But we're all afraid of the spotlight.

I have a thesis why this is so.

Who doesn't know the meaning of public humiliation? And when was our first public humiliation? Everyone of us has a painful childhood memory of the first time we had to recite something by heart in front of an audience. And some of us can probably still dredge up from our brain cells at least a part of whatever it was we had to recite.

(Here is a time for an interactive with the congregation. Ask them to remember their first public recitation and what it was. My first public recitation in elementary s…