#23. Keep Calm It’s Just a Hornet in Trump’s Clothes

My daughter had her chin tucked into her chest, her head fallen below the the wooden table we were eating at in the community garden in the State Park across the West Side Highway from where we live in Harlem, NY.

We were having a picnic — ribs with sautéed vegetables we had grown in and picked from our raised bed in said garden. However, instead of actually eating, my daughter was preoccupied with playing with the dirt below the table. Or so I thought.

What she was really doing was surveilling a hornet who had decided to make our family meal a little more exciting. Not that conversation with my dad and sister wasn’t enough.

“Dad, you have a bee on your foot.”

I looked down.

“Why, yes I do. Thank you for pointing that out.”

My wife quickly chimed in, “that’s not a bee, it’s a hornet.”

Over the years, I’ve been emboldened around bees. If you don’t bother them, they won’t bother you. It’s simple. But this wasn’t a bee, it was a hornet. And they look a lot more mean. And their stings are a lot more painful.

I remained calm. And didn’t move a millimeter. For the whole minute that the hornet walked around on my foot.

And then it flew away.

I’m not advocating that we stand idly by in the face of danger. Or that danger will fly away without any struggle.

I am saying that we must remain calm and not react to the ravings of a hateful, vitriolic, demagogue.

Terrorism is

the use of violence and intimidation… to exploit human fears … in the pursuit of political aims.

TO EXPLOIT HUMAN FEARS.

It not only takes individuals to commit mass murder by flying planes into buildings, shooting automatic weapons into crowds, or driving trucks into civilians, but it takes SCARED people to amplify their message. Anyone who goes around and uses their bully pulpit to perpetuate fear is, in my opinion, aiding and abetting the terrorists.

I don’t mean to invalidate anyone’s fears but please people grow a backbone! (Well, maybe I just did. I’m not sorry.) Show some resolve and don’t let yourself get caught up in the idea that you might be next. These are scare tactics. To exploit human fears.

I’m not looking for street cred when I share that I was working at 80 Pine Street (about 3 blocks away from the WTC) on September 11, 2001. A lot closer to the devastation than 99.99% of our country. And I live in New York City, a lot more of a target for terror than 99.99% of the country. I knew one Guy who perished that day. And I, and the city, lost many, many fellow New Yorkers.

But I don’t walk around every day in fear that something might happen. And that’s because if I did, the terrorists will have won.

Keep Calm and Know that We Shall Overcome.