Unbroken by Radical Terrorism

Pipe bombs exploded in New Jersey and New York over the weekend and a brutal series of stabbings occurred in Minnesota — bringing the ugly specter of terrorism once again to the forefront of everyday Americans’ minds. The police have now made an arrest in New Jersey, but even before that news was announced, most Americans — too strong to back down — were doing what they always do.

Just look around. People are out in force at the start of the work week and the start of the school week — continuing on with their lives as usual. Moms and dads took their kids to school this morning. Older kids got on their way. Employees everywhere got to work. Americans always push through hardship and challenge.

Related: Pipe Bomb Terror Suspect Caught

“After 9/11, I called in sick for an entire week, afraid to get on the train,” Lisa Ferrari, a car dealer service adviser and freelance writer in Nottingham, New Hampshire, told LifeZette. “But I decided that was not the way I was going to live. The great thing about being an American is that we push through and go on with our lives, no matter what. Call it pride or stubbornness — but I’m not going to let any terrorist act change the way I want to live my life.”

John Brubaker, a long-haul truck driver from Hampton, Iowa, feels the same way. “[It’s] business as usual for me,” he said. “They [the terrorists] will not change where I go or what I do. Like most Americans, I don’t fear cowards.”

“Like most Americans, I don’t fear cowards,” said one Iowa truck driver.

Americans are optimists at heart — and mental health professionals encourage this type of outlook in times of trouble. Richard Friedman, a Weill Cornell Medical College professor of clinical psychiatry in New York who wrote in a 2015 op-ed in The New York Times, said, “Although there are people in this world who are dangerous, and these attacks are absolutely horrific, we all need to know that the world and the people in it are far more good than they are dangerous.”

One New York woman, a mother of two, often travels south from her home for business. She was concerned but unbowed by the news of the pipe bombs on the East Coast.

“I was determined to get to work on Monday no matter what these terrorists think they’re trying to do,” she said. “While the authorities take care of things on their end, everyday citizens can ‘fight’ terrorism in our own way by continuing to go about our lives without fear. They think they can bring us to our knees, but they can’t. They have underestimated America.”

Related: Kids Don’t Need Terror

In other words — carry on and hold your head up, Americans.

“We are the land of the free, and importantly — the home of the brave,” said Ferrari in New Hampshire. “And no matter what, we will continue to be.”

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