Each day in the newspaper we read of political and social upheavals throughout the world. In nation after nation people are demanding economic and political freedom and the rights of self-government and democracy. Confrontations between peoples and their governments may be violent and tragic, as last year's events in Beijing's Tiananmen Square sadly illustrate.

As a black South African, I am very familiar with these aspirations and with political upheaval. My country has seen terrible violence, and like my countrymen, I've felt keenly the tensions and rumors that can sweep a country. Fear, like a bush fire, spreads very fast. It spreads itself by means of the telephone, television, radio, and newspapers, affecting everybody. It can spread itself by word of mouth, especially if the media are gagged or restricted. What can individual citizens do to help bring peace and healing to an inflamed situation?

With moral courage, backed by spiritual understanding, we can do much to reverse the rumors and fears that would set neighbor against neighbor. For a start, we can bring a Christly spirit of hope and peace to our conversations, whether over the telephone or face to face. By refusing to be carriers of unfounded bad news, we help stop the spread of fear and rumors. But we can go even further. With a growing understanding of the allness of God, divine Love, and of the nothingness of anything unlike God, we can handle fear directly by challenging its authorship, authenticity, authority, and authorizer. Does it originate from God? Can we establish the truth about it or its genuineness? Who gives fear power or the right to enforce obedience? Who commissioned or sanctioned it?

Once fear faces this kind of spiritual onslaught, it cannot survive. It's reversed to where it originates—nowhere. As fear disappears, harmony and peace, which seemed displaced, are ushered in. As we can learn to sharpen our vigilance and alertness each time fear is voiced, it ceases to affect us negatively. The scientific handling of fear actually becomes a springboard for our progress Spiritward. We learn to stop reacting to outside influences and instead to respond to our inner voice—the "still, small voice" of Truth, forever informing us of God's goodness, peace, and harmony, which are constant.

When fear in a country becomes extreme, people sometimes withdraw into themselves, becoming indifferent to the evil that confronts them. They become like robots—neither dead nor alive. They merely exist. It is absolutely essential to meet this paralyzing fear with active spiritual resistance. Through the power of Christ we can drive fear out of our thought. We can see the suggestion of indifference and withdrawal into self as an unreality, which has no room in thought or power to paralyze. Rather than be withdrawn into self, why not reverse the process, turn the fear inside out, and be drawn outward into greater expressions of love?

In my own country of South Africa, this is certainly the great need. Whether we are black or white, we can open up and extend a hand of friendship across the color line. Just because apartheid laws have separated people for decades, this doesn't mean we can't make friends and get to know one another. After all, don't we all have one Father, even God? And doesn't Christian Science show us that God only makes one kind of man— spiritual man? On this basis we can recognize and feel our brotherhood and sisterhood with all people, regardless of race or color.

One white friend was shocked to visit my township and find our kitchen all modern with the latest gadgets. She thought we didn't even have electricity! And she lives only fifteen minutes' drive from the township. We break through stereotypes by holding to the true view of man and by following through practically by putting that vision into action in Christly living.

To be submissive, offering no opposition and cooperating passively with an unjust system, makes the oppressed as liable as the oppressor. We become part of the problem rather than of the solution. In an address to Christian Scientists entitled "Obedience," the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, clearly outlines the need for individual responsibility when dealing with sin, whether in ourselves or others. She writes: "We are responsible for our thoughts and acts; and instead of aiding other people's devices by obeying them,—and then whining over misfortune,—rise and overthrow both. If a criminal coax the unwary man to commit a crime, our laws punish the dupe as accessory to the fact. Each individual is responsible for himself." ^{Miscellaneous Writings, p. 119.}

In the middle of 1985, when the riots were at their peak in our area, ad hoc street committees were in operation. People were forced to attend meetings and so-called "people's courts," where barbaric sentences were passed and carried out by ruthless, uncaring people. Students were stopped from attending school, and those who attended boarding school were forced to return or else their homes would be burned down. My family was especially vulnerable because we lived next door to a prominent activist at whose house meetings were held.

On praying and reviewing this situation, it became clear to us that we were not going to be party to evil, intimidated, or submissive to evil's dictates—even with the threat that our house would be burned down. We took our stand against the violence and brutality, and one evening we did get a call informing us that our house would be burned down that night. We rang a Christian Science practitioner to pray with us and gave special attention to Psalm 91, with its promise of God's protection.

As we prayed, evil under the guise of fear was disarmed in our thoughts. We were released from being victims of fear and became masters of the situation. Evil's threat was arrested. A verse from the Bible reassured us: "He shall deliver the island of the innocent: and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands." ^{Job 22:30.} Recalling Mrs. Eddy's experience in a similar situation was most helpful to us. She writes: "In the eighties, anonymous letters mailed to me contained threats to blow up the hall where I preached; yet I never lost my faith in God, and neither informed the police of these letters nor sought the protection of the laws of my country. I leaned on God, and was safe." ^{Message to The Mother Church for 1902, p. 15.}

In our area most families were visited by vigilantes and told to recall their children from boarding school—or else. We were not visited. In fact, our children remained at school, and one of our daughters, who was taking final examinations, was able to go into town daily despite roadblocks manned by striking students. And she did well on her tests and was able to go to university the following year. We did not submit to evil or become party to intimidation and violence. We challenged evil by prayer that had behind it the power of understanding the real truth of the situation—the fact of God's harmony and perfect government of man.

The need to develop a capacity to forgive and love our supposed enemies is so critical. Christ Jesus leaves no doubt as to how we should act. He said, "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven." ^{Matt. 5:44, 45.} If we eradicate enmity in our thoughts, we remove the state of being an enemy. We kill the seeds of revenge before they germinate. This we do in our very thoughts. If we do not take this stand, we will be victims of our own thoughts, suffering from our own hatred. Let us practice loving our supposed enemy and build the future on solid ground—forgiveness and love. The basis for such forgiveness is to see man as God made him, as spiritual and good and as therefore incapable of acting in a volatile, barbaric, or oppressive way. The minute we reverse the material picture, we are able to see more of the perfect, reliable, honest, and consistent son of God.

People misunderstand wealth as deriving from the physical resources of a country. They fear losing such wealth because of politics and change of government. But surely the wealth of a nation should not be measured only by the amount of gold in its reserves but by the abilities, capacities, and qualities of its people. Human resources are capital that—if invested in, developed and nurtured—would be reliable, unfluctuating, and permanent. Material resources become depleted after exploitation. Yet if the people have freedom to utilize their God-given talents, a nation as a whole is blessed and prosperity follows.

If wealth is founded and measured by material possession of any limited resource, then the availability of this wealth can never be assured to all people of the country. Disparities occur, which often result in strife between two groups—the haves and the have-notes. Whereas if we see the spiritual significance of wealth as the flow of rich and talented ideas from God to man, we know that these ideas are available and abundant for all. Our goal can be to help bring out this largely untapped yet limitless resource in our fellowman, regardless of race or color. Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: "Take away wealth, fame, and social organizations, which weigh not one jot in the balance of God, and we get clearer views of Principle. Break up cliques, level wealth with honesty, let worth be judged according to wisdom, and we get better views of humanity." ^{Science and Health, p. 239.}

If fear is not resisted, it builds its case into such a "monster fear" that it makes us want to run away from finding a solution for the problems facing us as individuals or as a society. Because fear is negative, it would encourage us to turn to solutions that are detrimental to us and others. But if we should decide to face the problem squarely, trusting in God's law and His power to set things right, we will be guided to solutions that are spiritual, permanent, and more satisfying.

Fear is reversible because it does not originate in God. Understanding this, we can actually welcome the challenges facing us as opportunities to prove the power of divine Love. The same law of Love that saves the individual saves the nation. So, when faced with fear, let's challenge it head-on! Let's reverse it to our advantage! And grow spiritually.