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Feeding Crow by Marilynne Eichinger

 scavengers find military dog tags on a beautiful day

My War on Terror

A friend told me of a young girl who was alone at home dying of Ebola. Both her parents had succumbed to the disease which fortunately spared three of her siblings.  Her closest relatives were grandparents who declined to help the sick child.  My friend was horrified by their inaction, imaging herself in a similar situation. How could she let a grandchild die alone? My friend’s instinct from afar would be to go to her granddaughter's bedside.

Aiding the young girl would most likely mean contracting the disease and spreading it to others.  The child’s healthy siblings would then be deprived of their grandparent’s care. This story elicited immense terror for my sensitive friend for it presents an uncontrollable situation with what appeared to be closed-door options.

The “War on Terror,” was coined as a reaction to 9/11, and affected our country in much the same way as Ebola.  Fear was especially poignant for those living in New York City and the country reacted with empathy, great sadness…..and perhaps overreaction. Fear is a lighting quick response that in primitive societies meant the difference between life and death. This reaction might be important if you are being mugged but responding to disasters like 9/11 or Ebola requires more thought before executing a response.

The War on Terror is a man made rebound of a military rather than political nature. As a result we have been led into a costly killing spree that is now out of control for all parties involved.  It is difficult to know who the enemy is. The world’s reaction to Ebola,  an unanticipated act of nature, also calls for international response, which has been made especially difficult because of poor medical conditions and ignorance in third world nations. 

Both tragedies are made more difficult because of scarce water resources, oil, drugs, weapons, religion and control of the working poor. If nations of the world ever tackle those paramount issues perhaps terrorism will give way to reason.

What does it feel like to be under siege? I can imagine it but can not feel it in my gut. My moments of terror have been more imagined than real. As a child when my hand fell over the side of my bed I was terrified that it would be grabbed and eaten by a monster residing underneath. Thankfully my father arrived to rescue me and quiet my fears.

There was the time when my husband and I let our trusted babysitter take our toddler son to their cabin for the weekend.  I had neglected to get the address of telephone number of their summer retreat and in those pre-cell phone days there was no way of getting in touch with the woman and her husband.  Several hours after their expected return I became convinced that my son had been kidnapped.  I knew the woman had been having trouble getting pregnant.  I called the police who’s calm advice was to wait.

Even in those days the media was full of stories about waylaid kids. My blood pressure and adrenaline rose to unprecedented levels and I was ready to fight but what could I do?   Finally the vacationers returned after having a wonderful time at their waterfront retreat. Roads were a bit crowded and caused the delay.  I felt like a fool. Why had I suddenly turned on this woman and decided that she was deceiving me? What happened to rationality that made me ruled by emotions and unable to make good decisions?

In each personal case there were moments of immediate panic and fallacious reaction. It seemed not to make a difference if the threat was real or imagined once my involuntary nervous system took over. It made me wonder if there was a way to prepare my body to act calmly when faced with the unexpected? “People who are fearful can be quite limited..” writes psychologist Elisabeth Ovreberg.   I wonder if our nation also has become limited because of an excessive barrage of horror stories.

Neither individuals nor society can function for long periods on high alert. It is not possible to be on guard all of the time because fatigue is bound to set in as the Secret Service experienced recently when a man climbed the fence, ran across the lawn and entered the White House.  Were the guards dozing on the job, stunned into inaction, afraid? Has the Secret Service now overreact by instituting unnecessary spur of the moment precautions?  Can they really prevent an intrusion by a person who is determined to gain access? Probably not.

Safeguards do need to be put in place, but impulsive responses are rarely helpful. We will never be able to account for all of the unknown occurrences that produce feelings of terror. There will be times when adrenaline spikes and blood pressure skyrockets and it is helpful to have a slowing down period to let body (and the country) smooth out its nerves. 

Through mindfulness each of us could do our part to put out fires of panic before they reach the terror stage. To help meliorate stress, the press could become more moderate and thoughtful and  politicians could stop treating every crisis as one to be seized for personal gain. Bloggers could help by becoming more investigative before passing judgement and spreading rumors.   Imagine a world where well reasoned responses were fashioned to combat disease, issues of war, and personal problems.

For Further insight go to:

http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/questions/question/1000023/ -Written by University of Cambridge on what happens when we become scared.

http://sciencenordic.com/your-fear-reaction-lightning-quick - Fear reaction is lighting quick 

http://www.brettglass.com/immune.html - body’s response to terrorism by Brett Glass.