Randi Kreiss

Fear itself is driving America to the right

Posted

You will not be killed in a terrorist attack here in America, and neither will I. Our Muslim friends and neighbors are not building soda can bombs in their basements. The Syrian refugees we take in will not become a fifth column, plotting against the U.S. ISIS will not realize its mad dream of becoming a caliphate.

The above message does not come with a 100 percent guarantee, but with odds of 20 million to 1 (of dying at the hands of a terrorist), which is far better than most death risks. There is a greater chance of being killed by fireworks (1 in 340,000), being struck by lightning (1 in 700,000) and even being eaten by a shark (1 in 3,748,000) than of being killed by an ISIS recruit. Of course, if you travel to Syria on your next vacation, you increase the odds. But even if, heaven forbid, there is another attack here at home, the chances of any one of us being caught up in the mayhem is remote.

So let us drive the hysteria train right off its rails. Now.

We need to turn down the noise and focus on facts at this critical moment in our nation’s life. Deep breath. Body check. The stock market is robust, planes are flying safely, the Internet is up and our stores are stocked with food. Let us remember who we are and what makes us great, and not lose our sense of ourselves, which would be the ultimate surrender to the crazies.

It’s so easy to give in to fear, and of course we feel afraid. No one could watch the events unfold in Paris last week and remain untouched. We can imagine ourselves in that stadium or in that theater. We can envision a scenario in which we are caught in the crossfire. We are not immune to thinking about the danger in the world, but we have the capacity, and we must summon the courage, to set aside our fear and live our lives. Because even with all that has happened, America is still one of the safest civilized countries in the world.

This doesn’t mean there can’t be an attack close to home at some point; it means that we waste our days, and our lives, living in fear of that moment. If the goal of ISIS is to terrify us, then we will let them win if we go through our days feeling afraid.

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