NPR 10-19:Becoming Brave Enough to Fight Fear 战胜恐惧的力量

Detroit listener Terry Ahwal believes we should be fighting against fear and not against people

Welcome to This I Believe, an NPR series presenting the personal philosophies of remarkable¹ men and women from all walks of life.

From NPR News, this is WEEKEND EDITION. I'm James Hattori.

I believe in mystery.
I believe in family.
I believe in being who I am.
I believe in the power of failure.
And I believe normal life is extraordinary.
This I Believe.

Our This I Believe essay two weeks ago came from Israeli-born Tamar Duke-Cohan of Massachusetts. She spoke² of her belief in arguement and debate. This week we have an essay from Palestinian-born Terry Ahwal of Detroit, she works at the Rehabilitation³ Institute of Michigan, she also teaches non-violent communication. Here is our series curator, independent producer Jay Allison.

Terry Ahwal says the teaching non-violent communication allows her to see the goodness in human beings. When she decided⁴ to sit down and write an essay for This I Believe, she had no hesitation⁵ about her subject -- her belief has been a driving force in her life, and she thinks about it every day. Here is Terry Ahwal with her essay for This I Believe.

I believe in fighting fear.

When I was 11 years old and living under the Israeli occupation, I took a chance and after curfew I ran to visit my grandmother who lived two blocks away from us. On the road, I had to hide under a truck to avoid soldiers who were coming my way. For 20 minutes I lay there in utter fear watching their boots walk back and forth⁶ in front of the truck. My heart was pounding so fast and loud that I was afraid one of the soldiers would hear it and I would be killed instantly.

To calm myself, I started begging God to take mercy on me and save me from these men and their guns. I remembered the words of my mother after Israeli soldiers beat my father. She told us to put our fear and anger aside and pray for the poor soldiers, who were also afraid because they were away from their homes in Israel. I began to feel bad for the soldiers. I wonder: Where do they sleep and are they afraid of little children like me? What kind of food do they eat? Do they have big or small families? Their voices began to remind me of my neighbors. My fear dissipated a bit as I pictured the soldiers as people I knew. Although my 20 minutes under the truck seem like an eternity⁷, I believe that shedding my fear literally⁸ saved my life.

Thirty-six years later I look around and I see another kind of devastation⁹ created by fear. I saw the collapse¹⁰ of my city, Detroit, when so many white people fled the city out of fear. After 9/11, the Arab and Muslim community segregated¹¹ themselves because of the level of suspicion directed at them from others. Fear of association because of ethnicity led many to retreat within themselves and their community. They stopped socializing with non-Arab Muslim colleagues and neighbors. Once again, we allow differences to separate us because of fear.

When I was hiding under that truck, if my terror had made me lose control and I had started to cry, the jittery¹² soldiers might have pulled the trigger because of their own fears. Thank God I lived to wonder about this. I understood as a child that fear can be deadly.

I believe it is fear we should be fighting not the other. We all belong to the same human tribe that kinship supersedes¹³ our differences. We are all soldiers patrolling the road, and we're all little children hiding under the truck.

Terry Ahwal with her essay for This I Believe. Ahwal told us that her husband's family is Jewish, and that thanksgiving in their household is a mix of Jews and Arabs, coming together with no uneasiness. Our invitation to write for this series is open to everyone at npr.org/thisibelieve. You can find out more, and read all the essays from the past two and a half years, plus the tens of thousands that have been submitted. For This I Believe I'm Jay Allison.

Jay Allison is co-editor with Dan Gediman, John Gregory, and Viki Merrick of the book "This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women." A week from tomorrow on All Things Considered, psychologist Barbara Held of Brunswick, Maine, tells us why she believes in not always looking on the bright side.

Support for This I Believe comes from Prudential Retirement¹⁴.

This I Believe is produced for NPR by This I Believe Incorporated and Atlantic Public Media. For more essays in the series, please visit npr. org/thisibelieve.

1 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 rehabilitation   

n.康复，悔过自新，修复，复兴，复职，复位

参考例句：

• He's booked himself into a rehabilitation clinic.他自己联系了一家康复诊所。
• No one can really make me rehabilitation of injuries.已经没有人可以真正令我的伤康复了。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 hesitation   

n.犹豫，踌躇

参考例句：

• After a long hesitation, he told the truth at last.踌躇了半天，他终于直说了。
• There was a certain hesitation in her manner.她的态度有些犹豫不决。

6 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

7 eternity   

n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷

参考例句：

• The dull play seemed to last an eternity.这场乏味的剧似乎演个没完没了。
• Finally,Ying Tai and Shan Bo could be together for all of eternity.英台和山伯终能双宿双飞，永世相随。

8 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

9 devastation   

n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤

参考例句：

• The bomb caused widespread devastation. 炸弹造成大面积破坏。
• There was devastation on every side. 到处都是破坏的创伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

11 segregated   

分开的； 被隔离的

参考例句：

• a culture in which women are segregated from men 妇女受到隔离歧视的文化
• The doctor segregated the child sick with scarlet fever. 大夫把患猩红热的孩子隔离起来。

12 jittery   

adj. 神经过敏的, 战战兢兢的

参考例句：

• However, nothing happened though he continued to feel jittery. 可是，自从拉上这辆车，并没有出什么错儿，虽然他心中嘀嘀咕咕的不安。 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子
• The thirty-six Enterprise divebombers were being squandered in a jittery shot from the hip. 这三十六架“企业号”上的俯冲轰炸机正被孤注一掷。

13 supersedes   

取代，接替( supersede的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The new supersedes the old. 新陈代谢。
• No sooner do you buy a computer than they bring out a new one which supersedes it. 你买电脑后不久他们就会推出新产品取代它。

14 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。