But then Ernest's fear and anger would trump his love, and he would turn on what remained of Edna in his house.

Those images came to mind again as I followed recent news of incidents in the United States in which fundamentalist dogma and its fear of the intellectual progress that comes from understanding nature has trumped the scientific method.

They know that fear will trump logic - the logic of asking why we should entrust our safety to officials whose reckless, dishonest and incompetent policies have done so much to endanger it.

Nuclear fears and doubts trumped the perceived need.

And fear trumps logic all too often.

In villages like Dongguan South, home to the sick farmers who protested in November, the fear of a miserable death, the fear of leaving orphans behind, has trumped the fear of persecution.

Another reason I am not so scared of what I might miss, though, is because another fear has trumped it: being 10 years older and not having a child.

In the end, my fear of public embarrassment trumped my competitive instincts.