The nation’s airlines resumed flight service Wednesday and Thursday, but many people have changed their travel plans to go by car or train, or simply not at all.

Since the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, fear has become one of the primary words in the average person’s vocabulary. Fear that something like this could happen again, fear that they might get caught in a terror attack, fear has made American citizens afraid.

It’s not unreasonable to be afraid. This kind of uneasiness is perfectly rational. Terrorist attacks rely on their uncertainly because the unknown is what produces fear.

But we can’t let this uncertainty instill a permanent sense of fear into the American people. It’s true we can never be sure what will happen when we get on a plane. It’s also true though, that we might get into a car accident during a leisurely drive or twist an ankle walking to class. There is always that chance.

And that’s what we’re really dealing with - chance, our inability to know and safely predict what will happen. The possibilities we worried about before Tuesday now seem inconsequential. Whether we’d catch our bus, or if the waiter in the restaurant might be a little slow in bringing our meal.

Now we’re more fearful for our lives.

It’s important to not let this fear take control. We can’t let terrorists bully us into ending the way we do things. We don’t want to let them win.

Of course, it might change the way we do things a little. But it’s probably for our own good. The government has stepped up security around airports, making it more difficult for people and their luggage to get in an airplane without passing numerous security checks. Yes, this is more of a hassle, and it seems more restrictive, but with any luck it will prevent anything undesirable from getting into our skies with us. It will keep us safer.

Remember we are still allowed and able to do and go wherever we please. It might be a little daunting, but there are people working hard to make sure we stay safe.

We can’t hide in our homes safely on the ground and never go anywhere or see anything. If we do, then we’ve let our great American spirit get broken.

Any of us could be afraid of a lot of things when we travel these days. We could be afraid of robbery, of terrorism, a plane crash or even just getting lost. But we shouldn’t be afraid to go. Fear not only prevents people from doing what they normally would, it keeps people from being who they’d normally otherwise be.

That’s the only real thing to worry about. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had the right idea. If we’re going to be afraid of anything, be afraid our fear is keeping us from living our lives. Once we realize this, imagine how easy it will be to overcome it.