Why are we so afraid?

Have you ever noticed that we seem to be getting more and more afraid as time goes on? I’m sure we have always been afraid, but it seems that we are now verging on the point of paranoia. When we go online there always seems to be tons of pop-ups that have some great new deal to help you keep your identity from being stolen. Identities were stolen long before the Internet but we seem to think that this is a new thing that we have to become freakishly obsessed with. Take common sense safeguards, don’t be stupid and give away important personal information, and enjoy the benefits that come with easier access to information.
And in a world that we are constantly told is more violent, America rushes to take these extreme measures for “protection.” But at what cost? Will every American have to carry around identity cards and eventually get microchip implants in order to be a citizen? Or will we all have retinal scans on record in order to do business? Hasn’t anyone ever watched Alias? Apparently there is very little that cannot be effectively copied. And how have the extreme identity measures worked in other countries?
Perhaps what we all need is a time out. Maybe if we all just sat back, took a deep breath, looked at the world around us we would look at all these safety precautions for what they seem to be –
An empty sham of an effort to make ourselves feel like we’re safe.
I’m not saying throw caution to the wind, but I don’t think that we need walls built on fear-feed misconceptions, and bolted doors while we huddle inside. What might happen if we really decided to try to see others for who they are rather than who our preconceived notions need them to be. Beginning with your answer to an interpersonal issue seldom leads you to the other person’s question.