It may be the only thing we have to fear.

And when fear loomed large over the nation last week, we saw how frightening it can be.

We twittered back and forth between which would be worse: Congress passing the $700 billion bailout. Or Congress not passing the bailout.

Wall Street seems a lot like Las Vegas, but when the Dow Jones slot machine rolled around and showed a 777 point decline, nobody felt lucky.

More like sick to our stomachs. It does not help that the global financial crisis occurred at the same time as a personal financial crunch. Coincidence, or did one contribute to the other?

Can’t say for sure, but things I never worried about before suddenly consumed my conscience. As far as a financial bailout, I feel in a better position to be rescued from drowning than to row the life boat.

When the credit market freezes up, you have to liquidate some assets. So I cleaned out under the sink and cashed in my glass milk bottles. Pity any homeless man who tries to come between me and a cream soda can in the gutter.

Experts suggest becoming familiar with the institutions with whom you’re doing business. I used to know them, then my mortgage got sold. It didn’t seem like anything significant at the time.

But what if my dull-as-dishwater mortgage was traded in some bundling scheme and got swept out in the trash when Lehman Brothers slammed the door in bankruptcy?

The new mortgage holder, researched online, bragged about a 50-year history in the lending business. A mere 50 years? Give me a bank that survived the Great Depression. On second thought, Lehman Brothers had been around since 1850; maybe it’s not so important after all.

I took a moment to gain perspective. It’s easy to give fear free rein, especially in this media age.

Researching some very old media, last week’s Bible study featured the parable of servants entrusted with investing their master’s money. Again, coincidence?

The master reserved his strictest punishment for the servant who buried his money in a hole in the ground. The master said at the very least, he should have put it in a savings account.

Modern investors can take two tips from this passage:

1. God does not consider bankers evil.

2. Living in fear is never productive.

With that in mind, I turned right around and invested my money in another set of milk bottles.

Business editor Susan Mires can be reached at susanm@npgco.com.