Israel, Libya, Pakistan, Ukraine, Nigeria, the Philippines, Denmark, Egypt. Afghanistan, Yemen, South Korea, India, Somalia, Turkey, Iraq, Tunisia, Kenya. Kuwait, and yes, Garland, Texas in the United States.  What do all of these places have in common?  They are all locations of terrorist attacks during 2015.  To date, an estimated 290 acts of terrorism have occurred across the world this year.

Terrorism can be defined as unlawful violence or systematic use of terror against civilians or politicians for ideological or political reasons, with the intention to create fear.

Terrorists are cowards.  They pick on the innocent, the young and old, people they don’t even know.  They are subversive, carrying out their evil deeds in secret.   They view themselves not as murderers, but as freedom fighters, yet they ignore the rights of their victims, and sacrifice their prey for what they deem to be the greater glory of their cause.  Fear is their goal.  Fear cripples those who feel it.  It leaves people vulnerable.

So what is the answer?  How do we cope with the presence of terrorism in today’s world?

Some people might compare terrorism to shark attacks.  It is a fact that sharks can attack humans.  But in the vast scheme of things, it is a rarity.  And so is the risk of our lives in regards to terrorism.

According to a global research group, “The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) has just published, Background Report: 9/11, Ten Years Later [PDF]. The report notes, excluding the 9/11 atrocities, that fewer than 500 people died in the U.S. from terrorist attacks between 1970 and 2010.”

Furthermore, reason.com states, “[The risk of being killed by terrorism] compares annual risk of dying in a car accident of 1 in 19,000; drowning in a bathtub at 1 in 800,000; dying in a building fire at 1 in 99,000; or being struck by lightning at 1 in 5,500,000. In other words, in the last five years you were four times more likely to be struck by lightning than killed by a terrorist.”

In short, while we mourn the loss of lives in France and elsewhere in the world, we need to realize that we must go on with our daily lives.  We should never give in to the fear that can paralyze.  That’s when the terrorists truly win.  France and the rest of us will carry on. We know we don’t have to avoid the ocean for fear of sharks.