Falling prey to fear

I have a number of clients, colleagues, and friends who live in Mumbai, a place that is sadly no stranger to trauma and which is going through it again. In such times we can only hope that our friends and their families have not been hurt in the unpleasantness that is presently besetting their world.

It is hard for outsiders to understand the confusion that embroils such situations; people reporting the news always seem to convey the air of knowing what is going on. Of course they don’t, but the people that can spot the discrepancy usually aren’t exactly watching television.

Being present during a terrorist attack is, sadly, an experience that far too many of us share. Many people find it difficult to remain calm in the face of crisis and chaos. Not for us, far away, to say that they should feel any differently.

What I can offer, however, is the absolute certainty that the one way above all others that we beat those who would tear down our society is by not falling prey to fear. Incidents are bad enough, but the real damage is afterward, when we allow the circumstances to themselves become a cause and a self-inflicted excuse for curtailing our freedoms. No. Returning to normal is not easy, but it’s how we win.

AfC

We make this service available to our staff in order to promote the discourse of ideas especially as relates to the development of Open Source worldwide. Blog entries on this site, however, are the musings of the authors as individuals and do not represent the views of Operational Dynamics. All times UTC.