Paranoia? Or Well Founded Caution.

There is a general sense of unease in our country today.  More and more, people are living in fear. Rumors fly, and are believed by many. 

Case in point. An Internet story recently got transmitted that a large Mexican gang had taken over two small ranches near Laredo Texas. Now, this gang, who are really dangerous people, have struck fear in the hearts of thousands in both Mexico, and the southwestern portion of the US.

I received the story, which was presented by a quasi-legitimate news agency, and passed it via e-mail to a friend who, like me, is retired from a legitimate and well respected agency in the news business.  I say quasi-legitimate, because it is an Internet based agency, and it's credentials are as questionable as anyone who invents a name, and starts posting "news" on the net.

My friend, who has been my mentor in the business, takes a pretty jaded look at news stories, looked at it with his jaundiced eye, and wrote back that he didn't think the story was true. I wrote back, and rattled off a brief history of this gang, which in reality, is a very large paramilitary organization, and thanked him for his input.

Over the next few days, the story grew larger and larger. Finally, another friend, who is a noted author, made some telephone calls to several of the proper authorities, and found out that while the law enforcement people do indeed have serious problems, this case was false.  End of story.

I was much relieved, and e-mailed my mentor the results. He wrote back and kindly reminded me to check my sources. At least I didn't post the story on the web, but transmitted it to him in an e-mail letter.

As I said in the beginning of this message, there is a general sense of unease in our country today. I lived for some years in towns along the Mexican border, and know first hand of the dangers there. On one hand you have the narco-traffickers, and on the other, you have the law enforcement people. along the fringes, are folk living a pretty hardscrabble life, who live by any means they can, most of which, are either illegal, or immoral.  Caught in the middle of this chaos, are regular people. Citizens of the United States, of America, and The Republic of Mexico. People who live their lives, rear their children, and work to support the local economy.  Even among these, there is the uneasiness of living in a war zone. There too, rumors fly. Some well founded, some not.

In these end times in which we live, everyone is affected by the fear and paranoia around us. Some merely hide their head in the sand, some get caught up in it, and others, just say, "Oh, bulls--t!, and get on with their lives.  I really wish that I could be like the latter. Unfortunately, my previous life has left me pretty emotionally scarred. I like many, get too caught up in this world in which we live, rather than remembering that I am a spiritual being, temporarily living in a very flawed body, as we all are.

There is a prayer that I learned many years ago. I often recite it almost like a mantra. It goes:

"God
Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.
Amen."

Thank God for wise council.

Agape
Lee