"I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid. Nothing touches me. I'm a walking razor blade."

"In My World"
Anthrax

The hot new topic is anthrax, and strangely enough, it's not about the popular thrash metal band of the late 80s and early 90s with the same name. I listened to Anthrax for about a year before I realized that the word was also a infectious disease (mostly in cattle and sheep). Like most angst-filled teenagers, I listened to bands like Anthrax to make me confident enough to take on the drudgery of life. I immediately bonded with anyone who mentioned the word anthrax, and we would inevitably bust out our versions of "I'm the Man" or "Among the Living." Now when people hear the word anthrax, they are running home in fear.

For being such a proud country, we certainly have a bunch of fraidy cats. When the terrorists bombed the World Trade Center, I felt ill. I knew that a page of history had been turned, and that bloody pay back was not far off. But I wasn't scared. I didn't rush out and buy a gas mask or start digging a hole that will become a bomb shelter. I'm as helpless now as I was on September 11, and that's probably the way it's going to stay.

Our problem as a nation is that we are egocentric. We think that if something horrible happens then it could have easily happened to us. Everybody knew somebody who knew somebody that was in the New York or Washington area during the time of the attack, so they assume that they were very close to being part of the tragedy themselves. Six degrees of separation, people. Yes, over six thousand people needlessly lost their lives, but we are a nation of millions.

People are afraid to fly, people are afraid to consume, people are afraid of anthrax. Personally, I don't fly much because it's expensive. I don't consume much because I'm usually broke. I don't listen to Anthrax very often because it's not 1989 anymore.

I used to be very scared of ghosts and goblins. The movie Gremlins had me convinced that a puppet named Spike would eventually get me. Michael Meyers, Jason and Pinhead were all coming after me, and it was only a matter of time before I was a victim to the supernatural. It never happened, and let's face it, I'm the kind of guy who would die in the first third of the movie. So I quit worrying about all the things that go bump in the night, and they still leave me alone.

It's all a matter of perspective. Thousands of people die in cars accidents in this country every year, and yet, most of us get in a vehicle every day of our lives. We think we are in control if we're behind the wheel or being a back seat driver. We're not afraid of driving. That's everyday life. The reality is that you have a greater chance of dying in everyday life than anything else.

Anthrax is coming through the mail! I'm more frightened by the amount of credit card opportunities I receive on my limited income than I am about catching a disease. My roommate had a nasty cough last week. I was more worried about catching that than any bio-terrorism scenario you can think of.

If I do become a victim of America's NEW War, then that's how it will be. I'm not going to spend my time worrying and fretting and preparing against it. I'd rather be dead than spend my life worrying about dying.

So don't be such a fraidy cat. If you go outside, you'll realize that life is pretty much the same. There's still gridlock on the highways. There's still movies at the movie theater. There's still football. There's still everything you did before September 11. I'm not going along with President Bush's message that would should all go out and buy stuff, but I do agree that we shouldn't be worried about anything and everything that could happen. Like it or not, anything and everything could still happen.

Chris Jungle has the same motto as Alfred E. Newman.