Letters: We must replace fear with hope

Americans are afraid of joblessness. We are afraid of foreign and domestic attacks on our lives and liberties. We are afraid of the cost of everything from health care to education. Worst of all, we have begun to fear and demonize each other.

Perhaps fear is natural in times of such economic and political anxiety. Yet we must remember that those Americans who came before us faced greater threats than we can even imagine and came away stronger. If they could come together in times of magnified urgency, surely we can do so now to help create the best conditions for all Americans if only we try.

My prayer for 2017 is that it brings the opposite of 2016’s tumult. But in order for this to happen, we must all understand that every individual American has a responsibility to help substitute our current unwieldy terror with our potential unyielding hope.

This story was originally published January 5, 2017 at 5:48 PM with the headline "Letters: We must replace fear with hope."