I’m sitting at an intersection and I need to get somewhere. Two teen-aged boys, whose oversized and beltless trousers narrowly avoid the final descent to shoe-top, drag themselves through the pedestrian lane like two paralytics on their first day of physical therapy. I could honk the horn, but I don’t. Why? First, it’s counterproductive. They’ll just slow down. Second, I don’t want to find my car keyed. You know what I’m talking about. If I were to get out of my car and give them some therapy they really need, I would end up in even worse shape when the ACLU was through with me. So I’m motivated by fear, by phobia. The fear of certain consequences keeps me still in the driver’s seat. If the boys glance my way, I even smile. Maybe if I’m friendly, they might, well, no, but it’s a thought. You never know.

I find out about another fee I’ve got to pay for the privilege of home ownership. Maybe I’ll burn an American flag. I won’t because I love the flag, because I love what this country stands for. However, I’m not afraid to burn one. Especially where I live. I don’t want to burn a Koran though. That’s right. Why? People might die if I burn a Koran. I might die, even in this country. I’m afraid people will die if I burn a Koran. So who is afraid? What really is the Islamophobia? If we don’t support the Mosque, more people will become angry and more people will die. More volunteers will line-up for backpack bombing. The local Al Quaida recruiting office will be buzzing. Who is operating now based upon fear?

I feel no motivation to burn a Koran, even to help light my campfire. I’m a lighter fluid guy myself. I like wood too. It lasts longer and is less messy. You can roast hot dogs and marshmallows with wood. But fear of Islam doesn’t cause people to burn a Koran. Fear causes people not to burn one. And it’s not fear of Allah. It’s fear of Islamics who will kill an American because some other totally unrelated American burned a Koran. So don’t burn the Koran if you know what’s good for you, Americans. Alright, we won’t.

We Americans become accustomed to doing whatever the Islamics want us to do. They want a mosque (interfaith center) in the blast circumference of 9/11. You’ve got it. Just leave us alone. Please. But there will always be new demands. An Islamic studies department at the local university where Christianity was ejected decades ago. Separation of church and state? No, tolerance. We don’t want to cause any more incidents. If we want better relations, we have to show them that we understand them and we want to get along.

Terror is working.