Saturday, December 30, 2006

Uniting Against Fear


Uniting Against Fear

By Linda Kay Marchena

I remember when just a child of 7 years, the atmosphere of fear that surrounded our lives. It was the Cold War Era. The main topic of conversation at our dinner table and our neighbors' was about building bomb shelters, and stocking up on a years supply of can goods and water. You know, just in case someone decided to drop a nuclear bomb. Schools at that time had air raid drills besides the regular fire drills.

Today everyone is talking about terrorism as part of their topic of conversation. There is something wrong when we live in a world with so much potential for good, that we expose children to things to fear of on a daily basis.

Children being hurt, killed abused in all sorts of ways, by war, gang violence, abusive family members.

Just think of how much good and how much better this world would be if the adults of the world would unite together to say no more. No to their own anger, no to their fear, no to their selfishness, no to the past traumas of their lives that trigger extreme behavior such as an unhealthy need for power and control over others, which leads to violence, abuse and war. Let us think of the children of the world and how they are innocent bystanders to the abuse, wars, continuing destruction of our environment and food sources. They are at the mercy of the whimes of the adults. It is the adults who make the decisions, and yet when they are destructive decisions it doesn't only afftect the adults involved it also affects the innoccent bystanders, the children. Would it not be better to unite as human beings to create peace in this world.

How is this accomplished. It is accomplished by not only respecting ourselves but respecting others, no matter who they are. It is by living ones life with a sense of integrity, which means that when we say something or commit to something (even if it is just returning a phone call), that we follow through. By being consistant with what we say and do. These are necessary to estsblish trust, not only in our everyday lives, but it is important that our business leaders and government leaders exhibit these traits.

Tolerance and nonjudgement are also important. Instead of looking at each other as far as race, nationality, religion, size, shape, lifestyle, financial status would it not be better to focus on the major problems affecting the World. After all the bottom line is we are all human! We could accomplish so much more by ridding this World of disease, famine, homeless, poverty if we would focus on these things. Instead of War with one another, let us all unite and declare and end to these other problems that are in our world today.