Fear knows no frontiers

Let me start with a funny story and then I'll tackle a thornier matter.
Today I was talking with my sister on yahoo messenger and it came as no surprise that my parents are still trying to send me the subliminal message that I should move closer to work. It's something I do normally too as I hate spending hours on the public transport, but their motivation is that I avoid travelling on the tube, with all the bombs and shit. Well, bombs mainly, shit I handle at work so I'm used to it.

And my sister told me a funny story; she was on the bus in Romania and she noticed these 2 arabs, fidgeting, looking in all directions and she was afraid. It was in Cluj, in Transylvannia, it's not even the capital of Romania. Who the heck would want to blow up a bus in Cluj, Romania, I don't know ... but fear knows no frontiers.

I was just interrupted by the HR girl calling me on the phone "Ciprian, you're slightly late for you flu jab appointment". Damn right I was, half an hour late, I completely forgot about it. And I can't lie dammit, I told her candidly "Oh, is it today ... I forgot about it". She wasn't very happy. My slot was scheduled for 2:29 sharp. Now, who on earth schedules these meetings for these times I don't know. But I went and took the jab like a man ... without crying or fainting ... Brave Heart, no more, no less.

Let's go back to the main topic ... fear is a human universal thing. After the bombings in London, on the 7/7/05 I was more careful, I must admit, and more fearful at the same time. I was looking at the faces on the tube, trying, in my ignorance to preempt a strike.
How? By talking them out of it? By overpowering them? Nah ... by switching to a different carriage.
And one time I did just that. I was on the platform at Elephant & Castle, going into the City (for you not knowing, the bombs went off very close to the City, the financial district in London). I noticed a very dubious guy, with a large backpack, he was black, with a beard ... I thought ... hmm, beard, muslim! I moved away from him, choosing to stay in a different carriage a bit farther off.
Was I racist? Was I paranoid? Was I ignorant? Or was I really offensive to all the muslims in the world?
I think far from all these ... it has nothing to do with colour of skin or religious beliefs. It has to do with being naturally a bit afraid after the bombings and preferring to better stay safe than sorry. If, hypothetically, the bombs were the work of large hunky white caucasian males, I would try to stay away from those. It's just how normal people think, I don't think in terms of muslims or non-muslims.
And to support that ... I'll tell you how the story continued ... a black guy on the platform saw that I was moving away and he said to me "I saw you moving away, I did the same, that guys looks very suspicious". That was the moment when I realised we're all on the same boat, we're all concerned about making it alive, it doesn't matter if you're black or white, muslim, christian or agnostic. Fear knows no frontiers.

But I didn't stop using the tube, not in those days, not now, not tomorrow; I'm always using the tube late, around 10am, and the network is so vast, there are so many people here in London, it's safety in numbers. Do we feel like a herd of antelopes having to migrate every day, even if they feel the predators are out there somewhere planning the next strike? Nah ... life goes on, it's fully restored to normal now, no one ever looks at faces in the tube, few months after the attack. It's the same old London, eye contact still outlawed.