Coping with and overcoming the new realities

During his first inaugural address in 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt famously proclaimed that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself - nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance”. His words couldn’t be more appropriate today.

Fear is perhaps the most basic of human emotions. Even during the best of times fear is a constant part of our daily lives - whether we’re afraid of failing a math test in school, leaving a bad first impression on someone or making the wrong choice in business. But fear can also work as a healthy incentive for us to take precautions and to weigh our options carefully.

A higher level of fears also afflict us - the “class A” kind, which tend to be less rational and can sometimes paralyze us. Near the top of the list, according to researchers who study such things, is the fear of flying. Fear of public speaking and heights follow right behind. Other universal fears include rejection, commitment, spiders, the dark, intimacy and, naturally, death.

But I wonder: If a study were conducted today, wouldn’t terrorism be on the list? Have horrific events like the recent attacks in Paris, Beirut, Bamako and now San Bernardino altered our perspective?

Last month, after terrorists killed 130 people and wounded hundreds more in Paris, it was no surprise to see a sudden, marked drop in so-called “discretionary” travel to the region. I’ve been involved in the business of air travel for a long time now, so I fully understand how terrifying events like these can affect travelers’ decisions.

Fear of flying is bad enough. Add even the slightest hint of danger from a potential attack and many travellers cancel their trips altogether.

We’ve experienced this syndrome before. After the unprecedented attacks of September 11, 2001, in the US, almost all business and leisure travel around the world slowed dramatically. The recovery was slow but eventually the industry bounced back.

Sadly, we must all learn to deal with the threat of terrorism. But like anything else on the list of fears, we can’t let anxiety about another attack change the way we live our lives. These days, continuous dramatic changes - technological, climatic, political or sociological - are the new norm.

No matter where we call home, living with the threat of terrorism seems to be inescapable.

But we must rebound, and we must continue to travel freely, for business and pleasure. Just as cities like New York, London and Madrid bounced back after they suffered attacks, I’m confident that Paris and the inimitable joie de vivre of the French will quickly prevail.

Part of the recovery will depend on people continuing to visit Paris and other places that have been hit by terrorism. It’s quite heartening to see tourists and business people travel to France in the wake of the recent attacks. (In fact, as I wrote this column, I was en route to Paris for the COP21 climate change conference.)

Another factor is that governments shouldn’t issue unnecessarily alarming travel advisories that discourage their citizens from visiting other countries. Yes, governments should do everything to keep citizens safe, but curtailing travel because of the fear of terrorism is a victory that the terrorists crave.

We must remember that as important as tourism and travel are to the world’s economy, they also play a much more important role in spreading mutual understanding and trust among seemingly diverse cultures. Watching travel programmes and reading books about faraway people and places is never a substitute a firsthand visit.

Talking face-to-face with people, breaking bread together and sharing laughs or even tears can make all the difference.

Let me leave my conclusion to the master, the American writer Mark Twain. As is so often the case, when it comes to fear, nobody said it better than he did: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”

We must remember that as important as tourism and travel are to the world’s economy, they also play a much more important role in spreading mutual understanding and trust among seemingly diverse cultures.

— New York Times News Service