Good, Clear thinking on "FEAR"...

My sister sent this,  written by her paper's Minnesota Farm columnist, Brent Olson.

Independently Speaking

Publication Date 11-1-18

Don’t be so afraid.

Seriously. It’s a little embarrassing, not to mention un-American. America is not a country founded by fear.

I’ll be the first to admit it’s a hard world, and there are a lot of bad things happening in a lot of places. But you know what? Being scared fixes none of it. A scared dog will bite a friend and a scared baby cries.

Scared of the immigrant caravan coming our way? Well, first of all, they’re still a thousand miles away and on foot, so we’ve got a little time. And even if there are 5,000 of them, that’s not so many. A few years ago, I leaned on a railing and looked at the border crossing south of San Diego. About 90,000 people cross the border there every day, and they’re pretty well controlled. Turning back a caravan of 5,000 people might not even make it into the day’s paperwork.

If you’re just opposed to new people coming into the country without the right papers, I’m with you.  We need a lot more immigrants to do the jobs Americans don’t seem to want, but they need to be properly documented so they pay into the system and are protected by the system just like anyone else.  And, that’s what’s happening. Twenty years ago, about 1.2 million people entered the country illegally each year. That number has been dropping every year and now it’s down to about 10% of that amount. To put that in perspective, my home town has a population of about 450 people. If we had our share of undocumented workers, that means one new person would move to town every year and a half. So, don’t be scared of immigrants. If you want to hire someone to milk cows or mop floors in a hospital, there’s a pretty good chance it’s going to be someone with an accent. It’s always been that way.

You can be as scared as you want, and it won’t change a thing. Let’s face it, if you live in the Western Hemisphere you’re the descendent of an immigrant, whether your ancestors strolled across the Bering Strait 10,000 years ago or got off the plane yesterday.

Perhaps we could take a moment and look at the reasons a person would be willing to walk a thousand miles carrying a baby. If our government is contributing to the problem, we should make it stop. That would help a lot, because, in the end, the only real solution to people fleeing their homes is that their homes are safe enough that they don’t need to leave.

“How about MS13?” you might say.

Well, yeah. Those are really bad people - brutal criminals who need to be arrested, prosecuted, and locked up for their crimes. And that’s what law enforcement is doing. It’s nothing new. In the 1840s, the Bowery Boys were a violent street gang in New York who hated the Irish and the Catholics. A few years later, the Irish and the Jews had their own gangs, after that the Poles and the Chinese had a run at being street criminals. The Italians were a little late to the game, but they do get credit for the whole Mafia thing. When I was in high school, people were worried about the Hell’s Angels. Now many of those Hells Angels who aren’t in jail have grey hair and prostate issues. There are factors as to who becomes a criminal that are far more important than skin color and religion. That’s just the truth, and letting someone convince you that you need to be terrified of…well, of anyone, is of no use at all.

I deeply, passionately disapprove of people who want to make me scared. They are like sleazy salesmen who want to sell you something you don’t need and are willing to say anything to get the job done.

That doesn’t mean I float through the world in a rose-colored glasses fog. We face real problems. For instance, for every dollar the U.S. Government spends, it borrows about a quarter. Do that with your credit card and you’ll lead a sweet life for a while.

But not forever. 

The scientists at NASA say that due to climate change, my area of the country is going to see more droughts, hotter temperatures, AND more floods. Right now, farm incomes are down, expenses are up, and that’s with really good weather. Farming has never been a relaxing profession; it’s not going to get easier.

You look around the world and some really bad people are in some really powerful positions of control.  Dealing with them is going to require friends, allies, persistence, and clear thinking.

These are some of the real problems I think about, and being scared won’t fix any of them.

There’s an election coming up. Please vote. I’d suggest you vote for candidates who tell the truth, who believe in science, and, you know, facts. People who are for something and not just against something. 

Especially don’t vote for hate or fear. It’s just un-American.

Copyright 2018 Brent Olson