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Be Not Afraid FearFor me, living in the United States was an excitingadventure. At the same time it was frightening to bereminded that Rifton, our new home, was within theninety-mile radius that experts predicted would bedoomed if an atomic bomb were ever dropped on NewYork City.I never got used to the drills. Again and again Ifought my anxiety of bombs and war, and I sensed asimilar anxiety in many of my classmates, despite thejokes. Others of my generation will, no doubt, havesimilar recollections.Fear, of course, is not limited to particular places oreras. It is a universal emotion, if not a primal instinct.Each of us has felt it – recoiling from a sudden burstof flame or a snarling dog, for instance, or grasping ata railing and backing away from a sudden drop-off.But there’s another type of fear: the fear that comeswith serious illness and the prospect of death. Thisfear has less to do with self-preservation. It is fearof an uncertain future, fear of change, and perhapsmost importantly, fear of facing one’s life squarely andcoming up empty-handed.When Matt, a 22-year-old I knew, was stricken by amalignant lymphoma a few years ago, we talked aboutthis fear, and those conversations have stayed withme ever since. Like most patients who have just beendiagnosed with a serious illness, Matt was primarily1