We are defined by the choices we make. That seems like a very simple and self-evident statement, filled with promise and potential, but the complexities involved with making any choice can be significant.

We are blessed as human beings with the capacity to reason – to consider the past, imagine the future, and apply those rational considerations to the present to inform the decisions we make. We are unique among the creatures on Earth in our capacity to do so. Yet that same wonderous capacity can also imagine darkness and fear, particularly when effort is undertaken to instill them. When so much chaos is created around us, how do we cope with the fear it can engender? For me, I often find it helpful to first seek an understanding – I search for facts.

Fear: a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, or pain whether the threat is real or imagined.

The definition above confirms that fear is internal, it comes from within. That is not to say that the bear chasing you in the woods is not a good reason to be afraid, but our response to that tangible threat is action focused on life preservation. Wringing our hands will not dissuade the bear.

Much about social chaos involves imagined fears, triggered by the many what ifs that populate our thoughts. Our capacity to imagine, unbound by reason, conjures up the worst and seldom the best outcome when events stray from our expectations. We’ve been told for millennia that our focus should be on those things we can control. Nearly two thousand years ago, Marcus Aurelius put it this way:

Do not allow the future to trouble your mind; for you will come to it, if come you must, bringing with you the same reason that you now apply to the affairs of the present.

Our focus on those things we can control is not the same as acceptance, it is instead a call to act in the present. Each day may require a sliver of courage to resist the pull into incivility. Those many acts of courage combine to form a framework for our lives and can change the course of a nation.

Abraham Lincoln recalled the tale from King Solomon with the saying; “This too shall pass.”  And so, it shall. For my part, I will continue to serve my community as I am able, stay true to the ideals I have come to value, and resist.

Resist

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Kevin Deeny