The Hard Questions

Once again, my desire to write a humorous column about rain bonnets or to brag about the latest adventures of my granddaughters has been hijacked by the cries of the world around me. The culprits are many-faced. Boko Haram, ISIS, and suicide bombers head up the list, with one common factor: terror is their calling card.

I still remember the acts of horror that rocked my childhood, in particular the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy. I was deeply shaken by their murders. With the understanding of a child, I grasped the idea that those in power faced an inherent danger. That’s why the Secret Service exists: protection.

Now, fifty years later, the world has been turned upside down. The targets of terrorism aren’t kings and sheiks, presidents and prime ministers, at least not directly. Instead, a bomb kills Russian families headed for vacation in Egypt. Bursts of gunfire strafe through the Bataclan Theatre in Paris. An explosion rocks a Lebanese bakery. Thirty-two people are killed as they select fruit and vegetables at a Nigerian open air market. We wring our hands and ask, “What is this world coming to?” There is no protection, and the bad guys seem to be winning.

How do we respond? For me, it begins by sitting with the sorrow from living in a fallen world, for there is power in remembering. We remember Romain Feuillade, described as a boy with a deep kindness who aspired to be an actor. Twenty-three year old Arianne Theillier, who loved to draw cartoons for young readers. Kheireddine Sahbi, an Algerian violinist known as a great master of music. Lola Salines, who worked with La Boucherie de Paris, a roller derby team. All among those dead in Paris. And those on the Russian plane, those in the Lebanese bakery, those in the Nigerian market. We remember terror’s innocent victims.

In facing our own fears, writer Hunter S. Thompson suggests that “there is no such thing as paranoia. Your worst fear can come true at any moment.” That is the challenge that terrorism brings to everyday living, and that same paranoia is fueling the discussion on the possibility of terrorists hiding among the Syrian refugees.

Here’s what watching too much NCIS Los Angeles suggests to me. Those involved with terror cells are like cockroaches. They will find a way in. If a person is intent on creating terror, it seems there are easier ways to move about the world than to enter the refugee stream. Just thinking out loud.

In a world saturated with social media tweets and posts, everybody has a passionate opinion about terrorism, immigration, and/or Syrian refugees, often fueled by misinformation and fear. I long to be able to talk about the issues with civility and respect, but that’s been difficult at best. Might the endless stream of rhetoric and vitriolic responses ultimately cause more damage than the actions of the terrorists? People intent on creating terror understand what George Martin described in “A Game of Thrones.” “Fear cuts deeper than swords.” Or, as the demons in C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters recognized, “Suspicion often creates what it suspects.”

I also want to figure out what to say to the lovely Madelyn Simone when she asks me the hard questions. For now, at age five, she’s not paying too much attention to the world beyond the playground. But the time will come when she will ask, “Why, Nana?” When the twin towers were attacked in 2001, our youngest son was eleven, and I had no answer for him. How can such disregard for the life of another be understood or explained?

Yet Mr. Rogers’ timeless response stands: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” The NYC firefighters ran up the stairs as the World Trade Towers burned. They, along with the helpers in Paris, Beirut, Egypt, and Nigeria showed up to proclaim that no matter how deeply fear cuts into us, it will not have the final word. Can I hear an Amen?