I just completed this article for my self-growth website. I thought I would share it with everyone here. The first few paragraphs are below with a link to the rest of the article.
-Doug (FreePeace)
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FIGHT OR FLIGHT? Coping with the Fear of Terrorism
"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." — Franklin D. Roosevelt
THE YEAR was 1968, I was in third grade, and the United States and the Soviet Union were embroiled in a psychological tug-of-war. As a child of only nine years of age, I did not fully comprehend Cold War events—including the threat of nuclear holocaust—that undoubtedly spawned much fear across the nation, and even the world.
In the interests of preparation and preservation, my third grade teacher, Mrs. Stokes, instructed the class to bring a clean and empty Clorox bleach jug with us to school by a certain date. We did as instructed, and when the assigned day came, we filled our jugs with water, and labeled them with our names. I vividly remember going down into the lonely tunnels—serving as a makeshift fallout shelter—below Academy Park Elementary School in Salt Lake City, Utah. I can even still see the Principal putting a single drop of chlorine in each one of our jugs as we looked on in the dimly lit tunnel. Thankfully, we never had reason to make use of our stored water. I can only imagine how events of that era—along with fear and uncertainty of the future—undermined one's sense of personal security.
Then along came the '80's and the '90's, and the fear of doom and gloom from thermo-nuclear destruction gradually eased up.
Now here we are, nearly two months into the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and four Airliners. I doubt any of us will ever purge those vivid images of the airliner hitting the South Tower, and the subsequent collapse of both Towers. Indeed, these images have been burned into our national psyche. I cannot fathom the grief and agony the family and friends of those killed are facing, and my heart goes out to them.
On the heels of this tragedy—and without a moment to catch our breath—came the current and ongoing bio-terrorism threat, most notably, the anthrax scare. Around the world, and especially in America, people have been jolted from a state of relative peace and safety to a state of profound concern—fear—for their lives, and their way of life.
Alas, fear has tightened its tenacious grip once again.
(To finish reading, click on this link: http://empowerthespirit.com/Articles/fear.htm#on )