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Bravery OR fear....

Are we a nation of brave people? Living in the home of the brave? Brave in our strength and our honor and our justice and our generosity?

Or are we afraid and if so of what? Are we afraid to share, of weakness, of prejudice?

Each of us is brave and each of us have fears. There are risks and the risks are subject to understanding. If we understand what our fears are and why we have certain fears and then consider how we can be brave and not jeopardize ourselves, our families, and our communities - then we can be rational and caring human beings. We will have set limits and plans for now and the future.

SO - I am not a risk taking person. For instance I hesitate to take in a homeless person for the night or day or week... however I want to help the homeless and do so with money and other resources I have which allow for giving/caring/sharing while not jeopardizing my home.

As I consider other people such as migrants coming to this country I wonder about protecting my country AND caring about the whole world. In the USA and in many other nations there is on one hand a need for more people to work and consume so I wonder how migrants can help with those needs. One way nations are planning to "fix" their POPULATION PROBLEM...  is to encourage their citizens to have more babies. Yet there is a problem of overpopulation and the strain on natural resources. On another hand, fear... xenophobia... of other people (people of color or different religions, etc) prevent nations from filling their needs now with people who are here and ready now - them being migrants.... immigrants... emigrants.

What is the rational thing to do in the long run as well as the short run? What is caring and smart and to some extent BRAVE... Yes - it is brave to integrate new peoples into groups of older peoples because the possibility is the new will replace the old.

WELL --- the New always replace the Old... The questions are what is better? What will be? And the answers to all things about the future is - WHO KNOWS... Things remain the same and things change and controls work and controls get blown up.

Generally - change is not comfortable and many people's discomfort becomes fear.

Being brave is scary, too.

SO - it is hard to get away from FEAR...

As I often think/say -- OY!

© Ken Firestein - 2020

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