"So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1933.
As was the case for those who listened to FDR speak in 1933, we live in a world fraught with danger, both real and imagined. And like those to whom FDR spoke, we fear those dangers, real or imagined. Unlike the listeners in 1933, though, we are more aware of the dangers. Citizens in 1933 got their understanding of the world from two sources: radio and newspapers, which were in those days rather slow and plodding methods of delivering information. Today, the internet and advancing technology allow us to instantly perceive, in full HD splendor, all of the dangers which threaten us. It's no wonder our world is more sensitive to impending danger than the world was when FDR spoke his prophetic words 80 years ago.
But those words are as true today as they were then, perhaps even more so. School shootings, collapsing markets, international strife, rampant mortgage foreclosures, predatory lending practices, and racial and religious hatred inspire in us a fear that our world, our society, and our personal lives may be injured or destroyed without warning. Our leaders seem paralyzed, unable to determine what course to take to best overcome the dangers that surround us. To quote another line from FDR's address, "only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment."
But one does not need to be a "foolish optimist" to know that fear is still our greatest enemy. We may not be experiencing the widespread and vivid panic Americans felt in 1933, but we are living in a state of fear nonetheless. But the fear we feel is so unfocused, fed by so many ills approaching from so many directions, that we are reduced to a sense, not of panic, but of helplessness. So we pass laws and enact policies that are designed not to cure our problems, but simply to treat a few symptoms here and there to give us the illusion of progress and the sensation of safety.
I heard just today of a girl in fifth-grade who was playing an old-fashioned cowboy game with her grandfather. He made her a gun out of paper, which they used to play the game. Then she accidentally took the "gun" to school. She discovered it in her pocket and went to throw it away, and another student saw it and reported it to the principal, who promptly punished the girl in front of her classmates for bringing a "gun" to school. Her classmates teased her about being a "murderer." Now the little girl has nightmares triggered by the principal's irrational fear of a folded piece of paper.
Courage doesn't lie in being paralyzed with fear, or in simply destroying that which terrifies us in a mindless panic of overreaction. It lies in overcoming the fear itself, and dealing with the source of the fear with reason, compassion, and love. As we move through our 5000 days, we have to learn courage through the power of rational thought. Learn first to distinguish between real danger and imagined danger, and when faced with real danger, learn to overcome the fear first and then address the danger in a sensible and meaningful way.
But one does not need to be a "foolish optimist" to know that fear is still our greatest enemy. We may not be experiencing the widespread and vivid panic Americans felt in 1933, but we are living in a state of fear nonetheless. But the fear we feel is so unfocused, fed by so many ills approaching from so many directions, that we are reduced to a sense, not of panic, but of helplessness. So we pass laws and enact policies that are designed not to cure our problems, but simply to treat a few symptoms here and there to give us the illusion of progress and the sensation of safety.
I heard just today of a girl in fifth-grade who was playing an old-fashioned cowboy game with her grandfather. He made her a gun out of paper, which they used to play the game. Then she accidentally took the "gun" to school. She discovered it in her pocket and went to throw it away, and another student saw it and reported it to the principal, who promptly punished the girl in front of her classmates for bringing a "gun" to school. Her classmates teased her about being a "murderer." Now the little girl has nightmares triggered by the principal's irrational fear of a folded piece of paper.
Courage doesn't lie in being paralyzed with fear, or in simply destroying that which terrifies us in a mindless panic of overreaction. It lies in overcoming the fear itself, and dealing with the source of the fear with reason, compassion, and love. As we move through our 5000 days, we have to learn courage through the power of rational thought. Learn first to distinguish between real danger and imagined danger, and when faced with real danger, learn to overcome the fear first and then address the danger in a sensible and meaningful way.