The other day I was walking down Metcalfe Street in front of the Ottawa Public Library, around 6p.m. or so. A jet plane flew by right above the street and for some reason I felt a chill in my spine and I almost ducked. I was embarassed with my needless reaction and wondered, why was I so scared?
I have not lived in a war zone or anything close to it. I have never seen a gun in my life, nor have I felt any danger close to a bomb or gun shot ever in my life. I did experience a harmless, but scary earthquake in 2004 in Bangalore. But thats pretty much the only danger I have ever felt. I should thank my stars for having a good, safe life. But coming back to 'fear factor'...
Three weeks ago, at like 2 a.m. my husband and I woke up to a POP...POP...and with my experience watching numerous movies, it sounded very much like gunshots. Trust me, I am not a paranoid person, but if something at night wakes my husband up, then there is something really going on...This noise definitely wasnt birds or animals or the furnace...so we waited to hear or see something outside...nothing...just the silent darkness before dawn...
Just to make sure, we were being good neighbours, we called the cops and told them we weren't sure what we heard, we definitely heard something unusual, so the cops drove by and they didn't see or find anything or anyone. It was scary...I dont know why, but its that sinking feeling you get and dont know how to shake it off...the same feeling you get when you are in a plane and there is bad turbulence...
So I began thinking about why I would be more scared now than ever about these things in Ottawa, one of the safest cities in North America, than when I lived in Bangalore, a city with one of the highest crime rates in India...
Some of my conclusions are:
Earlier, terror attacks targeted anyone who suppressed or oppressed... like in the saying "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter"... It was about fighting for your rights or your life. Now terrorism has become all about killing innocent people. So naturally even if you haven't done anything wrong, you could be the victim of a terror attack. Talk about being at the wrong place at the wrong time!
Secondly, tolerance for people, religion, politics, opinions etc has depleted considerably. Stress, recession, job lay-offs, abuse, sickness and much more has taken over mankind. No one is happy with what they have. Man/Woman seems to want more, and appreciate very little of what they have in their life.
I know we don't have any control of what the future holds for us, but how do we make sure that our children have a fear-free world? I had a wonderful childhood, carefree and joyous, do you think our future generations will be able to say the same?
