Recently, terrorism has been in the headlines it seems more than anything else. 

A bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester on May 22 killed 23.

An attack on the London Bridge killed seven Sunday.

A hostage situation was claimed by the Islamic State in Australia on Monday. 

A man attempted to harm a police officer with a hammer on Tuesday in Paris, yelling “This is for Syria.”

Although there is a terrorist attack basically every day, mainly in the Middle East, these attacks are getting closer to home – targeting Europe. 

It seems as though we are fighting a losing battle against terrorism. Now more than ever. So what do we do, as students, teachers and community members, to do our part in battling this war on terror? A war that we’ve officially been fighting for 16 years, now. 

The goal of terrorists is to instill terror. To make people feel that they aren’t safe. To make people believe that there is a bomb in every deserted backpack at a marathon, concert or airport. To make people afraid of going to a big city that could be targeted, to leave the country or even their homes. 

They want us to be worried that they’re around every corner plotting another attack. Terrorists want us to be afraid of them. 

So, we can’t let them achieve their goal – we can’t be afraid. 

Of course we will always be scared of terrorist groups. They are evil people who are willing and motivated to kill innocent people in order to make a point. How could we possibly not be scared of the people who are trying to kill us? We can’t.

We can be afraid of terrorists, but we cannot be afraid to live our lives because of them. We can’t be afraid to hold and attend benefit concerts. We can’t be afraid to get on the plane or go to the marathon or visit the Eiffel Tower. 

If we shut ourselves in and hide from everything because there could be terrorists, then yes, we probably won’t get blown up by a homemade bomb but we’d be sacrificing everything that makes life worth living. And that’s how the terrorists win. 

As students, teachers and community members, we might not all be able to go running to the Middle East, with guns and tanks and bombs, but we can fight them. By refusing to show our fear and by coming together to support each other, we’re not letting the terrorists win. 

There will always be evil people in the world, all we can do is try to even the score with love.