Sniper trauma

0 Comments | Insight on the News, Nov 12, 2002 | by Douglas Burton

PHIL VALENTINE, NEWSRADIO 1510, NASHVILLE

The speculation raged about the D.C. sniper. Was he a terrorist or just a lone nut? Regardless, this much always could be said: It's terrorism, al-Qaeda or not.

Whoever it was, they couldn't be allowed to win. They win when they force us to cower in our homes with the shades drawn. Pay attention to your surroundings, but don't allow them to win the psychological war. Terrorism wins when it truly terrorizes and paralyzes. The way we best fight terrorism on the home front is by never allowing that to happen.

PHIL PALEOLOGOS, NEW BEDFORD, MASS. (WWW.DINERSHOW.COM)

I'm not copping some holier-than-thou attitude, but a lot of folks have chosen to transfix themselves to a coward's terror of fear and its uneasiness.

How many people have you heard, lately, say that the recent atrocities have either given them unflinching faith or lionhearted courage? Listening to the regulars at the diner counter, I've found that most of them have a chink in the armor, causing this fear to double in power. The dread has become a loss of American courage, rather than a capturing of an opportunity. This Gordian knot reveals both. When we confront fear, it de-escalates, and when we hide from it, it compounds and snarls every aspect of our lives.