<p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-63374bf3-79ae-14c5-2a84-6ba736e2f443">Seemingly every week, (and sometimes, every day), there's a new attack on freedom by tyranny: London, Manchester, Paris, Istanbul, Brussels, Orlando and ever onward</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-63374bf3-79ae-14c5-2a84-6ba736e2f443">We mostly admit that we're turning numb to the headlines, just as we are also probably dulling to the "W</span>e will not be defeated by terror!" replies that immediately follow.</p><p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-63374bf3-79ae-14c5-2a84-6ba736e2f443">Because we'll just be back here again so soon.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-63374bf3-79ae-14c5-2a84-6ba736e2f443">We sigh, say a quick prayer and then shrug our shoulders because we feel there is no answer and it's all happening so far away. That is until it hits home in some meaningful (and often terrible way) for us too.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-63374bf3-79ae-14c5-2a84-6ba736e2f443">As travelers, travel industry workers, those connected in some way to either, and just citizens of a free world in general, we have to do better. I write the following from a broad perspective that goes far beyond tourism and destinations, but also as an explicit reminder that freedom of movement, freedom of spending, freedom of fun and everything that goes along with them hinges so heavily on freedom of ideas.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-63374bf3-79ae-14c5-2a84-6ba736e2f443">It is a call for me to realize that the answers I think I have in my head are likely not the same as yours, and vice versa. It's a reminder that when I'm so quick to blurt out my position, I'm often forgetting to ask the right questions, much less listen to them from others.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-63374bf3-79ae-14c5-2a84-6ba736e2f443">We all have a vested interest in what's happening in our world right now.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-63374bf3-79ae-14c5-2a84-6ba736e2f443">Public safety and the freedoms of commerce, belief, practice, travel, thought and a myriad of other things we take for granted every day are line-in-the-sand issues only insofar as we agree that we all want them for ourselves and our own interests.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-63374bf3-79ae-14c5-2a84-6ba736e2f443">How we obtain, protect and the degree to which we use them are not binary issues, however. They are not finger-pointing, fingers-in-the-ears, this-way-or-no-way, shout-you-down-from-my-Facebook-page issues.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-63374bf3-79ae-14c5-2a84-6ba736e2f443">They are life-and-death matters for the future individuals who will otherwise be murdered, persecuted, profiled, discriminated against, ignored or innumerable other horrible acts. And while they might not directly affect you this minute, it takes only an instant for the consequences to hit home.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-63374bf3-79ae-14c5-2a84-6ba736e2f443">I don't have the answer because I can't be the only one with an answer to these things. But I do have plenty of questions, and I'll admit they're only the beginning:</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-63374bf3-79ae-14c5-2a84-6ba736e2f443">-How does a nation properly secure its borders and regulate immigration without unfairly constricting the free movement of innocent people-especially those fleeing from the evils that prompt the need for secure borders and regulated immigration in the first place?</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-63374bf3-79ae-14c5-2a84-6ba736e2f443">-How do democratic societies, built on the order of Law, preserve "innocent until proven guilty" while also needing to act with due diligence and preventative measures during times of collective threat?</span></p><p dir="ltr"><strong><span id="docs-internal-guid-63374bf3-79ae-14c5-2a84-6ba736e2f443"></strong></p><p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-63374bf3-79ae-14c5-2a84-6ba736e2f443">I've heard far too many passionate Republicans, Democrats and even moderates during the past couple decades essentially say, "the time for talking is over!!!" because they didn't get everything they wanted.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-63374bf3-79ae-14c5-2a84-6ba736e2f443">But the dirty little secret of Democracy is that you NEVER GET EVERYTHING you want. (Nor should you, since if you do, the democracy is dead.)</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-63374bf3-79ae-14c5-2a84-6ba736e2f443">Getting </span>some of what you want is about working together to figure out what the group needs. It's about addressing both sides of the coin. We cannot lose that or we've already lost.</p><p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-63374bf3-79ae-14c5-2a84-6ba736e2f443">Ideological terrorism is not simply about causing fear. It's not just about bending large groups of people to the will of the few. It is about wearing down and desensitizing. It's about disorganizing and distracting. It's about spreading out its enemy to bleed the target dry over the long game.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-63374bf3-79ae-14c5-2a84-6ba736e2f443">We make that a lot easier when we're too busy shouting at each other, throwing up our hands in frustrated apathy.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-63374bf3-79ae-14c5-2a84-6ba736e2f443">Hold yourself accountable. Hold your representatives in BOTH parties accountable. And where a cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all political grouping doesn't best represent you anymore, start finding and/or building those that will.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-63374bf3-79ae-14c5-2a84-6ba736e2f443">Let's get back to asking each other questions so that we can answer this age's life-or-death issues together.</span></p>
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