Change is the Dragon We Fear - Essay Example

Our sainted mothers, on the other hand, had a social position to keep that was essential to survival because it guaranteed employment, a safe place to live, and social acceptance. We all went to segregated schools and churches and shopped on “this” not “that” side of the railroad tracks; that’s just the way it was, fear of change mandated it. When I look at Okaloosa County, Florida today, I see not much has changed. Only sixteen percent of the residents are identified as “non-white”, with nine percent of that group comprising African-Americans.

The good ole boys: white, republican, church-going, terrified of change in any form, backwoods men ensure that their little haven is safe from change. The women know their places, and none of them make enough money to be a threat of any kind to the man’s world there. This is the same kind of thinking that gave birth to the terrorism we are experiencing today at the hands of Al Qaeda. Fear of change, fear of progress, fear of diversity; the greatest enemy of mankind is fear. Where there is fear, there is no room for love or progress of any kind.