A monkey has temerity when it jumps out of a tree
And splashes around in the water
When it doesn’t know how to swim
And a crocodile is swimming by.
There is an element of boldness to temerity
Of nerve
But that boldness, that nerve
is just kind of stupid
In that it disregards
Obvious repercussions
Either in the form of punishment
Or
Danger.
When not talking about monkeys
And talking more about when people have temerity
It tends to be a word used in conversation
To describe situations
Where a person says something
in a situation
where most
just
wouldn’t
go there.
But the person with temerity (a noun because it is a thing one has)
That person doesn’t care.
Even if saying something could hurt them in some way
It isn’t factored into their decision-making.
Fear is not a factor.
Not only is it
Not a factor
It is an anti-factor
Because the person with temerity
Has such contempt for fear- which is not the same thing as being brave because one who is brave does things in spite of their fear-
Has such disrespect for fear
Really despises fear
Yet
they are not like the daredevil either.
The daredevil gets joy out of fear
One who has temerity (you HAVE temerity, which makes it a thing, which makes it a noun)
would never chase fear, nor get joy from facing it
they are repulsed by it, they want nothing to do with it
they don’t even want it factored into the equation.
It’s dinner scraps for the trough.
That the pigs can enjoy.
Like the crocodile may enjoy the monkey.