The first time that I needed to fly in an airplane after September 11, 2001, I had to wonder about the prudence of exposing myself to the new danger that was exposed on that date. I am sure that most of us have had similar thoughts. The terrorist events in the Middle East and more recently in Indonesia have added to the fears that we feel and now the sniper attacks have nearly paralyzed the Washington DC area. How are we to respond to all this? 

I resolved the question for myself by considering the soldiers that had been sent to the "front" in Afghanistan. In times of war some of us have to go to the front in order to confront the threat to our society. We regularly honor those who give their lives and those who risk their lives so that the rest of us can live in peace and freedom. I am old and have had the good fortune of not having had to risk my life as a soldier and I am awed by the sacrifice of those who paid with their lives for the relatively tranquil life that I enjoy. 

In this new "war" against terrorism, whether the terrorist be an alien or a citizen, it is not so easy to identify the "enemy" or to know where the "front" is located. When I had to decide whether to risk the new dangers in flying or limit my life, my freedom, by avoiding it, it came to me that it was, in a sense, my turn to go to the front. If I could accept and appreciate that soldiers would take the far greater risk of confronting an enemy on a battlefield, it seemed incongruous to give up, out of the fear, the freedom for which they have paid such a high price. 

I believe that this is the attitude that we must all develop if we are to protect our society against those that would use terror and intimidation to keep us from living in freedom. We must all be willing to "go to the front" when the occasion demands it whether that front is a commercial airliner, a gas station or a shopping center. A few of us may die but the price we pay is the same as that we ask soldiers to pay on foreign battlefields every time our freedom is threatened. We can do no less. 

RLW 
10/21/02