Nothing to Fear When We Stand Together

Good morning. Yes, as of the time I am writing, it is still morning, even on the east coast. By the time I post, probably not.

First, today is Veteran’s Day. I know a lot of veterans and I am related to a lot of veterans and there are far too many to mention by name but I have to mention my favorite: James M. Lamberger. Aka Papa to me and his children and other grandchildren and great-grandchildren and now his great-great-grandchildren. I am grateful for his service to our country and our family. Without him, I certainly would not be who I am today. I am also grateful for the service of all the other veterans I know, and even those I don’t, and for the service of those who helped them to do what they’ve done.

Second, I have two theme songs right now. There is much more to both than my current take away but I’d like to share them anyway.

The first one is Nothing to Fear by Billy Idol. If you listen all the way to the end the last words are, “There’s nothing to fear/But fear itself.” I believe this to be true. When we give in to fear, what are we doing? When we cower behind closed doors, what are we doing? When we willingly submit to the thing we fear, what are we doing?

Anyone who knows me well knows I’m not a huge Disney fan. That said, I still think there are a few good movies that Disney has done. One of them is Remember the Titans. If you don’t know what it’s about, google it. If you do, great. Anyway, at one point, Coach Boone says, “I don’t scratch my head unless it itches and I don’t dance unless I hear some music. I will not be intimidated. That’s just the way it is.” He didn’t cower in fear. He could have, but he didn’t.

Again, anyone who knows me even a little might know that I share a birthday with Martin Luther King, Jr., and in high school (and beyond) I wrote more reports about him than anything or anyone else. If someone could have cowered in fear, he certainly could have. But he didn’t.

Let me share a couple of quotes by him.

“People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don't know each other; they don't know each other because they have not communicated with each other.”

I read something yesterday that someone posted on Facebook. It was written by a Pakistani man who is Muslim and gay who voted for Hillary Clinton. He wanted to find out if it was true that all Trump supporters really are bigoted, privileged, etc., so he and his husband and their daughter went to Alaska. Guess what they found out? That people who voted for Trump aren’t all that way. The people they met work hard to support their families. They were kind and decent. They were not what this man was expecting to find.

Don’t think for a minute that I am stupid and naïve enough to believe that all Trump supporters are decent human beings; I don’t think they are. I don’t think Clinton’s supporters are all decent human beings either, for the record.

Another quote from MLK, Jr., “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moment of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

Where do you stand? That brings me to my next song which is When We Stand Together by Nickelback. Listen to the chorus: “We must stand together/There's no getting even/Hand in hand forever/That's when we all win.”

Are we standing together? I don’t think so. This election was pretty evenly divided between the two main candidates. That means there are a lot of people who are disappointed, even if just a little. Personally, if you know me at all, you know I voted for Johnson. Did I think he would win? No, I really didn’t, but I still voted for him because I could not vote for either Trump or Clinton. I may not have agreed with everything he said and did but I agreed with more of his platform than either Trump or Clinton. That said, from everything I saw and read and heard, I fully expected Clinton to win. Did that make me happy? No. But neither did the thought of Trump winning.

Now, I hear and see a lot of fear. “I’m afraid that….” “I fear this….” “I’m worried about…” Honestly, I see and hear many things that cause me to be greatly concerned about our future. I think things could get really ugly really fast. But fear does no one any good. No one.

What happens when you give in to your fear? You become subjected. You empower those you are afraid of. Let’s not. There are plenty of idiots but I think there are a lot more who aren’t. Those of us who are not, well, we need to stand together because I can tell you, “the drumbeat carries on.”

The world is still beautiful if we can just take the time to appreciate it.