Fear Grips the World
A GIGANTIC car-bomb explosion rocked the 110-story World Trade Center in New York City on February 26, 1993. Thousands of workers were trapped in stalled elevators or had to flee down smoke-filled stairs. They felt the fear that is now rampant in this violent world.
People in many lands have been terrorized by bombs, which have become commonplace in such countries as Ireland and Lebanon. Why, 13 exploded in just one day—March 12, 1993—in Bombay, India, killing some 200 people! An observer said: “There is panic in the whole of Bombay.” According to the magazine Newsweek, a car bomb’s “utter banality only makes it more fearsome.”
Nuclear Fears Persist
There is fear that nuclear reactors are vulnerable to bombs. A successful attack on a nuclear power plant could cause incalculable damage and suffering. Giving credence to this fear was one man’s attempt to crash his car through a security gate at Three Mile Island nuclear power station in the United States.
Many fear that terrorists and power-hungry rulers will acquire nuclear weapons. Some are fearful that thousands of unemployed Soviet nuclear scientists will try to sell their skills. Further, though the START treaty and other accords call for a major reduction of strategic nuclear weapons, implementation of such agreements will not be completed for many years. In the meantime, the possible use of this weaponry by some fanatical upstart must hang like a threatening storm cloud over mankind.
Violence Promotes Fear
The widespread increase in violent crime makes people fearful in their homes and on the streets. An estimated 23,200 Americans were murdered in 1990. In the city of Chicago, for example, an increase in the use of crack cocaine contributed to about 700 murders in one year. Certain areas of some cities have become battlegrounds where passersby, including children, have been killed in cross fire. Says one magazine: “Violence is escalating rapidly in midsize cities. . . . No one is immune as communities across the [United States] are awash with drugs and young hooligans. Each year 1 of every 4 American households experiences a violent crime or theft.”—U.S.News & World Report, October 7, 1991.
Fear of rape makes women apprehensive. In France reported rapes rose 62 percent from 1985 to 1990. Within six years sexual assaults doubled to 27,000 in Canada. Germany reported one sexual assault on a woman every seven minutes.
Children also fear for their safety. Newsweek reports that in the United States, “kids, even fourth and fifth graders, are arming themselves, and teachers and school officials are running scared.” The situation is so serious that a quarter of the large urban school districts use metal detectors, but determined youngsters find a way around these by passing guns to others through windows.
Fear of AIDS
More and more people are fearful of contracting AIDS. There have been over 230,000 cases in the United States alone. AIDS has become the sixth leading cause of death among 15- to 24-year-olds. “The future holds the frightening prospect of much more widespread illness,” says Newsweek.
Death from AIDS is increasingly frequent among people in the fields of dance, theater, movies, music, fashion, television, art, and the like. One report said that 60 percent of the deaths of Parisian men in journalism, art, and entertainment aged 25 to 44 were due to AIDS. WHO (World Health Organization) reports that from 8 million to 15 million people worldwide are infected with HIV. Dr. Michael Merson, a director of WHO, says: “It is now clear that the toll of HIV infection around the globe is worsening rapidly, especially in developing countries.”
Of course, there are also environmental and other fears. Yet, the foregoing reports alone make it evident that fear grips the world. Is there something especially significant about this? Can we ever expect to enjoy freedom from fear?
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Cover photos: Left: Tom Haley/Sipa Press; Bottom: Malanca/Sipa Press
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Bob Strong/Sipa Press