...and miles to go before I sleep

Tomorrow, I’m going to wake up, square my shoulders, and go about my business in New York City like every other day. Tonight though, in this quiet moment in the dark, I am scared. 

I’m scared of what I’m going to wake up and see on the news. I’m scared that the innocous individual in front of me will pull a Wal-Mart hatchet from his belt and drive it into my face. I’m scared that the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade coverage will stop being about holiday cheer and instead devolve into unconfirmed reports of gunfire in the crowd. I’m afraid that I will be in that crowd.

They say that if you are terrorized by the terrorists, they’ve won. At least for tonight, at least within the confines of my mind, they might be winning.

We can’t allow ourselves to be paralyzed by fear. However, in the quiet moments, we might quake. It’s not abnormal, and it’s not permament.