Why I'm Not Afraid

Some people say I should be trembling right now in fear. That we should all be melting like marshmallows. Too bad for them -- I'm not.

Why not?

1) I believe in G-d. That may sound very sanctimonious and proper. Don't worry, I'm not the sanctimonious, proper type. I simply hold the conviction that I am not a pussycat rolling down the hill in a box, looking out at a big, scary world going by. Instead, my world has an interpretation -- that there is purpose, meaning and deliberate intelligence behind what goes on. And that I am an active participant in that meaning. So that if I will believe and trust that G-d is running the show and He is taking care of all of us, that belief and that interpretation will prevail and be so.

2) I'm not a loser. A War on Terror means just that: a war not to be terrified by those who want you to be. If you're terrified, they've just won another battle -- and you've lost it. They've just gotten stronger, you've gotten weaker. And next time, they'll hit even harder and you'll lose even bigger. I have no interest in losing, so I refuse to be afraid.

3) There is enough high blood pressure and anxiety in the world already. We don't need to tighten any screws on our brothers and sisters in Israel. We don't need to punish the tourism industry in that precious land any further. We don't need to steal any more sleep from the parents and grandparents of all those students studying in the Holy Land. We need to fortify their inner faith, which every Jew has from birth and only needs to be awakened. We need to uplift each other with words of confidence. We need to live on faith, not on fear.

4) It worked in the past. When the Gulf War loomed over our heads in 1991-92, these fear-niks were screaming loudly then, as now. The Lubavitcher Rebbe, on the other hand, repeatedly told us that "Israel is the safest place in the world for a Jew." He encouraged people to travel there and discouraged anyone from leaving. He dismissed all the doomsayers, declaring that G-d loves His people and will make great miracles and wonders for all to see. And that is just what happened: forty scuds struck Israeli soil -- not one of those killed anybody. And even greater miracles will happen this time around.

5) The time has come. The prophecy that "they will beat their swords into ploughshares" has already begun. The technology and the mindset of that era is already in place. These winds of war are the final death-throes of the monster of evil before its utter demise. I am not an evil monster, so why should I be afraid?

It looks like war. If we had enough faith, we could achieve that all the people of the world would be redeemed from their evil dictators without war, without terror and without fear. That is the power of joy and faith and confidence. So let's lift each other up with whatever we can muster. At the very least, let's not frighten one another.