A Moment Of Silence For Gay Terror Victims

No doubt there will be a moment of silence during this year's Pride March in New York City to honor the dead and the injured in yesterday's terror attack at Pulse, the gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

Overcoming Our Violent Side

A city like New York is a testament to the scientific and technological strides that human beings have made over the centuries.Despite our ingenuity, there lurks within each of us, whether we want to admit it or not, a primitive side that manifests itself through violence and mayhem. If we could find a way to eradicate that side of ourselves, we would have a truly beautiful world in which to fully enjoy our technological advances and we wouldn't need to fear war or its handmaiden terrorism.

Terrorists Feed On Our Fears

The following is a letter-to-the-editor dated 10/15/01. It was intended for the New York Daily News's "Voice of the People" column. I checked my submission logbook and found no entry for it, so it never was published. Although it was written a short time after the 9/11 attacks, what it has to say is still timely:

FDR was right when he said: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Fear is a terrorist's stock-in-trade. Its use is a form of weaponry, psychological weaponry which, in a time like this, a time of intense grief and anxiety can breed chaos, suspicion, hate, and irrational thinking. What better way to destabilize a country. We must keep this in mind before scapegoating people because of their ethnic, religious, racial, or political affiliations.
The fear caused by the collapse of the Twin Towers as well as the anthrax attacks are part of that campaign to instill terror and irrationality. Fear of death is at the root of our fear of terrorism. The terrorists know this and use that fear to their advantage.