The cars in my neighborhood are covered with bumper stickers -- "Keep Fairfax Weird," "Fairfax: Mayberry on Acid," "Obama", etc. -- and usually my eyes glaze over reading them in their similitude, but I saw one recently that made me stop and take notice. It said simply, "Don't Be Afraid." This short phrase strikes me as very profound. It often seems as though the people all around me are filled with fear: the mother at the park screaming at her son to get down from that tree, the boyfriend who beats his girlfriend because he's afraid she'll leave him, the suburban housewife afraid to go walking at night, the angry masses who would deny marriage to people in love, the government that "detains" people endlessly, the crossbearers on their knees praying for salvation, the policeman walking down the street with his hand on his holster ... I could go on and on.
What if, instead of fear, we turned to love? Do people who are afraid live longer? Go to heaven? Spare themselves from horrible accidents? Or do they merely live anxious, hate-filled, isolated lives?
The National Rifle Association, an organization based completely on fear, has more than 4 million members in the United States. That is a huge number ... but it's still less than 2 in every 100 Americans. So I guess it's not as dire as it seems; 98% of the population is either too lazy to join the NRA, or are hoping for something better.
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