Why Imprison Ourselves?

To the Editor:

The morning of September 11, I sat by the phone for hours until I finally got word that my beloved cousin, godfather of my children, who worked at the World Trade Center, for Sun Microsystems, was OK.

As the smoke clears, we see Americans responding with grace, dignity, and untrammeled patriotism, generosity, and spirit. One of the most heartening sights on television the week after the attack was a group of senior citizens on a bus trip from the Midwest into the heart of New York, with no fear, only solidarity.

Yet here in Newtown, two weeks later, I find various trips – some of them many months in the future – for schools and programs being cancelled or on the verge of being cancelled for what I can only describe as understandable, but irrational, fear. Why irrational? Because they concern 1) travel and flying and 2) the fear that any locale visited might be the scene of an attack, especially since those locales closed briefly after the attack.

As to the first, ironically, it is safer to travel, and to fly, now than it ever was before, as security is at a level we’ve never seen before; as to the second, almost everything closed after the attack, including Western Connecticut State University and People’s Bank. And if we think we can second-guess what high-profile place a terrorist would attack, we are very sadly misinformed. As to both, the odds of being killed in a terrorist attack still – yes, still, even with these horrific numbers – don’t come close to the odds of dying a thousand and one other ways, including driving in a car. And finally – well, where will it end, and what does it teach our children?

I am not talking about being foolhardy, only rational. Of course if a full-scale World War III breaks out, few of us are going anywhere. But there are two ways to live in this world after such an event. We can hide in the basement, and let the terrorists hijack our plans, our trips, our very lives (and the lives of other families in Newtown, since a tiny minority can put the kibosh on everyone else’s plans) – in effect, doing their work for them, as we hold ourselves hostage to fear. Or we can live as the courageous people of the rest of the world live.

My daughter recently spent six months in Israel (a place I surely would have kept her home from, thus denying her a life-defining experience, had I been hostage to hysterical fear). In Israel, in Lebanon, all over the Middle East, people take reasonable precautions, but then they dance at weddings, go to concerts, ride their bikes, take public transportation, in short, they live.

My son has been on a number of trips involving ten plane flights since last March, several of them very long distances and most of them unescorted. Because of these flights, he has been able to sail the Caribbean, compete in sporting events, and participate in leadership activities in Washington that will stay with him forever. He will need to fly many times in the future – and he will. Yesterday my husband flew on a full plane to Chicago. My cousin – the one who worked at the World Trade Center – went back to New York City, where he eats in restaurants and attends concerts and shows. As Thomas Friedman said in the New York Times, “I wonder what Osama bin Laden did in his cave yesterday?”

Yes, I am aware of all the arguments that will be put forward – we “have to respect people’s fears,” the schools and programs “have a responsibility to the minority, however small,” but most of those arguments are feckless. I would like to end with another quote from Thomas Friedman:

“Unable to actually imprison us, these terrorists want us to imprison ourselves. Sorry, but no way. It breaks my heart to think about the people who lost loved ones on September 11, but I will not let it break my spirit.”

Mary Taylor

31 Jeremiah Road, Sandy Hook                                   September 25, 2001