by Janet Lovera, ’23

“The worst thing we can do is let fear guide us.”

“America is not just a place, but a vision of what we want it to be.”

———-

Over the past few years, we’ve once again been engulfed in a time of uncertainty. The pandemic shocked the nation, impacting the lives of everyone, and we are still learning to navigate our new reality. We’ve all experienced pain and loss, in one form or another, throughout this time. Yet, we as a nation, have struggled to find unity in this shared experience.

“The worst thing we can do is let fear guide us.”

As I sat in my room watching Divided We Fall virtually, there were various aspects of the aftermath of 9/11 depicted in the film that resembled what we have once again experienced as a nation throughout the pandemic. We let our fear guide our hearts. During this period of the unknown, we allowed ourselves to become divided instead of unified. We drove each other away in the hopes that we would never have to grow accustomed to the new “normal.” What we managed to achieve instead was causing more pain to those who we associated with our fear.

Valerie Kaur spends her entire film revealing the need to tackle the fear we face during times of uncertainty and loss because of the pain that is inflicted by it. People are hurt, communities are persecuted, and injustice becomes justified. If we accept that we fear the unknown, that there is so much we don’t understand, we are able to look for ways to overcome it. We do not become blinded by that fear, and we learn to grow from it. We educate ourselves, reflect on what we’ve experienced, and reach out to others instead of pulling away. Let our hearts be guided by compassion, knowing that we’ve all experienced pain and loss during this time. Let our hearts be gentle in the way we interact with others as we all continue to navigate the new reality of our lives.