The No.1 Force

FEAR .. is not going to stop me from naming the number one force responsible for all the misery, evil, and devastation in the world.

Responsible for the civil war in Sudan, Yemen, and 28 other conflicts ongoing today.

Responsible for war in Ukraine, the Middle East, and many border disputes, insurgencies, armed groups, and terrorism.

Responsible for unrest, systematic starvation, destruction, forced migration, torture, atrocities, and genocides.

And I can go back to Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Uganda, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Korea, and yes .. even the 911 attacks.

Yes, it is ONE force that's responsible for all this evil, and I am not afraid of naming it.

?In fact, I already did!

Read the first word I wrote today: F E A R!

FEAR, my friends, FEAR has caused all this, and is continuing to do so: humans fear humans.

Fear of others’ thoughts, religion, opinion, ethnicity, color, ideas, and ideology!

Fear between citizens and migrants; between neighbors; between businesses; between governments; between employees; brothers and sisters.

Fear .. fear .. fear..!

There seems no end to it. Every "fear" we get rid of, we are introduced to new faces and facets of it. As if someone’s best interest is in keeping us in total, unending.. FEAR!

Until there's no need to create or fabricate fear anymore, because fear has nested in our minds, and our minds have become experts and creative in finding more and more reasons to live in .. FEAR!

We’ve normalized fear into our lives that we can easily and instantly be afraid of:

Our next-door neighbors, the shoppers in the mall, those in the queue, the pedestrians who just walked by me, the cars about to park next to mine, or the ones driving all around me, my children’s teachers, my students’ parents, my siblings, my parents, my children…!

Stop it!

Stop this nonsense! This madness! This hell!

And yes we can, we can .. stop it.

And no, I won't say or suggest that we should combat or replace “fear” with “love” - as goes the conventional narrative.

Let’s be realistic, love is the antidote to fear. But we can’t just invite love and it will do the magic and replace fear!

What we CAN do, however, is REMOVE the obstacle that stops love from entering and living in and between us.

And that obstacle is.. you guessed it: FEAR!

Because fear, my friends, is fantasy. It is, no doubt, supported by sporadically invented or amplified incidents. But it is never the TRUTH.

Love, on the other hand, is the truth.

So, let us – you and I – start small, from where we have control and impact. Let us do what IS possible this very moment: remove the FEAR from our minds. It just takes one tiny step at a time.

Say (or wave) “Hi” to your neighbor next door; call that relative you haven’t talked to for a long time; make way to the hurried driver instead of challenging and cursing; thank your son’s teacher before (and without) having to wait for a catastrophe to contact him; sincerely appreciate your staff for the little they're doing; hug your siblings when they least expect it; kiss your mom’s forehead after a long day she has battled to secure a safe and happy home for you…

Come on.. you know what to do!

And you know you can do it, immediately,? here and now!

Don’t let the vicious cycle circulate.

Don’t allow the process to continue.

Don’t let the disease spread!

Intervene, interrupt, act. Or else, FEAR will eat up your mind, your soul, your life, and the lives of those who matter (all lives do matter).

You see, my friend..

Courage is not shouting loud at the “evil” and “super-“ powers: “Hey you, I am not scared of you” and then do nothing.

Courage is simply saying: “Oh my neighbor, brother, sister, fellow citizen, visitor, human… I am not scared of you” and then, doing something, the right thing.

?And we all know that if each one of us does exactly that, in our own small worlds, one person at a time, moment by moment, day by day, it will eventually, and naturally, make way for LOVE because we have conquered what’s holding it back…

?FEAR!