The world has always been a scary place. If anything, we have become inured to the greatest threats we might face. With roofs over our heads and weather forecasters to warn us of impending storms and economic structures to cushion us from financial catastrophe, we keep many dangers at bay.
Our current compulsion to call today’s tragedy the worst ever is the arrogance of the present day. We feel that we must be the center of history, the moment when everything changes. Many a sensationalist preacher has declared the crisis de jour to be a sign of the "end times." That compulsion is driven by fear not sobriety, by anxiety not hope.
And most troubling may be that all that misdirected energy keeps us from loving our neighbor near and far and addressing the real dangers we face as a people. As we worry about some fantastical fear, the reality of a yawning gap between the wealthy and the poor can seem too ordinary and thus not worthy of our attention.
While we tremble at the prospect of an international war that may well be averted or at the threat of a disease that we have a minute chance of catching, we don’t see the victims of that potential war, that ravaging disease. While we worry about the remotest possibilities, the real, daily cries of our neighbor go unrequited.
Too often, we act as if their lives are worthy of our concern only insofar as their affliction might become my problem. That’s called sin.
The kind of fear that is running rampant among us today is debilitating. But love can conquer that fear. Hope can conquer that fear. Faith can conquer that fear. Fear will not enable us to tackle the ordinary but destructive arrangements we have created between rich and poor, the powerful and the powerless. But hope can transform both.
And when fear subsides, our hands have no need to be clenched in apprehension. They can only open to love the neighbor in need.
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