Avoiding Fear

Dear peace community,

It seems you wake up every day to be presented a question. What would you like to fear today? With so much to fear, had it been a stock, it would have been up multiple times this decade. Take the case of Dick Cheney! He spent most of his 8 years in an undisclosed location. When he shows up, he predicts ominous future or ominous things he allowed to “safeguard” our future. For him it is a ground hog “doomsday” everyday! Present VP seems to be playing his part with flu. Some think Al Gore had his own “warm up” session and Dan Quayle was his own hot “potato”! Do VP’s play a part in fear propaganda? The main reason we have this office is to soothe us from a different kind of fear! So far our “fear” strides made tame wars, depression, colonialism, polio, flu, and inflation of last century. Should we call this a fear century or a decade of great fear? Afghanistan makes 90% of the opium used. We generate that much in fear and consume both in copious amounts! Our politicians and 24 hour news cycles want us to be fear addicts. They want us to cower instead of analyzing the big picture. There is always someone or something to blame. We have 5% of world population, but 25% of world prisoners. Guns and ammunition are selling at a brisk pace and stores are out of stock. With our frayed nerves, paranoia has no limits!

Take this recent example and our excessive preoccupation with it. The swine flu (or its new name influenza H1N1) has a few thousand confirmed cases in the world. The total number of deaths in US is three so far. We will find more, but most are recovering fine. While three is still tragic, if you compare that with 36,000 American deaths a year from regular flu, this new “pandemic” is nowhere near as scary in comparison. Should we be taking precautions (wash hands) or panic? With our limited attention span and expert imagination from the media, we take normal dangers and convert them to extreme fears. It sounds cliché, but once again we have to fear the fear itself. Otherwise, we cannot come up with proper solutions.

Here in Missoula look at the positive side. Enjoy spring blossoms, hike, go to the farmers market, meet friends, take your kids camping, help someone or do something you like to do. Ignore the constant doom and gloom. Come see us build a stone amphitheater at the Peace Park. Find ways to bury this draining emotion and live normal, happy and peaceful lives.

Srini Mondava

Coordinating Council chair