Living with Fear

Not since the Cuban missile crisis of the 1960’s have Americans had to deal with a persistent threat of attack and its associated potential collateral damage. Despite the gravity of that situation, we at least knew with specificity who our enemies were, as well as the likely site from which an attack would occur. Contrast that with a threat from a diffusely deployed network of individuals in many ways indistinguishable from the “melting pot” that is the people of the United States. Consider as well the amplified effects of events through their almost instantaneous transmission via forms of broadcast journalism and the Internet.

One significant consequence of this entire looming catastrophe is fear. Fear is defined as apprehension and alarm from an identifiable stimulus, as opposed to anxiety, which has no easily identifiable stimulus. Fear can activate one’s “fight or flight” response – essentially an outpouring of the hormone adrenalin that results in effects including a rapid heart rate, sweating, and energy generated through an increase in the production of glucose.

As there is currently no indication that this chain of events is about to draw to a conclusion (but rather a justifiable likelihood that with the prospect of war in Iraq world events could become even more pressing), we all have to begin making some choices as to how we will deal with whatever the future holds. I think that we have to make a decision as to whether we will live in fear or live with fear. Let me contrast the two in the form of examples. Before doing so, let me say that there may be some for whom the anxiety provoked by fear may be simply unmanageable without contact with a health care professional. I urge these people to seek help without delay.

Living in Fear vs. Living with Fear

• Living in fear can incapacitate us – personally and professionally – through diminishing our attention to relationships and our work.
  
• Living with fear means that we regularly affirm our love to those near and dear to us and do our work with greater resolve as a form of active resistance to those who would disrupt our way of life.

• Living in fear will intensify our need to continually access various forms of news media and further distract us from the tasks at hand.
  
• Living with fear means that we keep reasonably abreast of events with the confidence that anything truly momentous will result in widespread notification.

• Living in fear means that we expose our children to our own spoken anxieties and burden them with our versions of the potential reality of what may occur.
  
• Living with fear means that we limit the exposure to young children of the constant flow of information and speak to them in reassuring terms as we proactively tell them that we will do everything we can to protect them. It means that we tell our older children how we are handling things and ask if we can be of help.

• Living in fear means that we look for endless distractions that may include alcohol, drugs, unwise relationships, and excessive use of entertainment.
  
• Living with fear means that we give voice to our fears with those adults we love and talk about how we might handle challenges in the event of an attack.

• Living in fear may cause us to consult a variety of spiritual practitioners in search of reassurance regardless of the source.
  
• Living with fear is an opportunity to examine the strength of one’s faith and to direct one’s energies towards a deeper knowledge and relationship with God.

• Lastly, living in fear can be the unraveling of unity and a sense of collective purpose.
  
• Living with fear creates an opportunity for us as a nation to join together in a common cause and in fellowship with the young men and women who may be on the verge of making the greatest sacrifice of all.

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