Because I try to keep an open mind, I have been bombarded recently with emails and links to political content, opinions and plenty of steaming, hot air. I read at least the first few paragraphs of everything. As one of 7 children in an Irish household where debate was the main course on the dinner table every night, I'm all for a good, fair fight. But I'm disturbed by the amount of fear mongering that is a common theme running through so much of the information being sent to me by people whose opinions I usually respect.
Wasn't it Churchill who told the free world, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."? Four years ago, Americans allowed fear to drive our decisions. I believe we've learned a lot from that experience and matured as a nation. However we, as a people, vote next Tuesday, I hope that it will be a vote of conviction and not another fear-driven reaction either toward or away from the leaders we are about to entrust to guide us forward through, perhaps, the most perilous and complex times of my life.
