Written By Sherwood Kohn
Franklin Delano Roosevelt had it exactly right in 1933 when he told a Depression-panicked nation, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
Maybe we need one of our leaders to give that kind of assurance to the country today.
There is a lot of fear around these days. Fear of H1N1 flu, of a battered economy, of a nuclear-armed North Korea and potentially Iran, of changes in our health care system, of government, of global warming, of thuggish lunatic fringe groups, of violent crime, of a deteriorating infrastructure, of terrorism, of contaminated food. You name it, people are scared of it.
What Roosevelt had in mind was more than just an abstract concept.
The basic implication of his message was “have courage.” He knew people were scared. But he also knew that it is normal, given threatening circumstances, to be frightened. What he was telling the nation was, “face your fears and overcome them.”
That takes guts. Roosevelt, who had faced his own physical problems and triumphed over them, had faith in the people who had elected him that they, too, could overcome their fears, and that as a result, the nation would climb out of the Depression and become the greatest country on earth.
I worry that we have lost sight of that vision. Beset by and obsessed with threats from segments of the population – both domestic and international – that care little or nothing for the common good, many of us have climbed into bed and pulled the covers over our heads.
Roosevelt tried, and succeeded, to rise above petty politics, selfishness and corporate greed. In the face of overwhelming opposition, he initiated programs that, while apparently costly at the time, rescued the republic and set it on the road to growth and prosperity.
Some will say that the rescue was not Roosevelt’s doing; that it was World War II that united the nation and set it on the road to economic recovery. But what if he had not rallied the nation even before the attack on Pearl Harbor? Could we have won the war? There’s a scary question for you.
This seems like a grand opportunity for a great and courageous figure, a thoroughly altruistic person, to speak out again in favor of courage. In fact, that would appear to be one of the best ways that we will be able to face and overcome the myriad fears that currently assail the body politic.
