Living in Fear or Living in the Moment

Over fall break, I spent my time much like any other student, sleeping in, catching up on my Netflix series, and even taking a quick trip to the beach after catching a concert. That’s right, I said concert. In light of recent events, such as the mass shooting during the Jason Aldean concert in Las Vegas many of my friends, family, and professors asked me if it was such a good idea.

    On Sunday, Oct. 8, I attended Zac Brown Band at Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The near sell out show was held in a 20,000 capacity open air venue. 

    This is not the first time that I have attended a performance from this band, in fact I saw them earlier this year in July at another open air venue in Bristow, Virginia.

    In light of the recent tragic events at a show, I was interested to see just how different the security protocol was, and the difference between the securities at the two shows was incredible.

    At my first show in July, I waited in line like anyone else at the main entrance. My small purse was searched as I was sent on through inside with no issue. That was basically the extent of the security at the gate, a quick bag search and ticket scan. Inside the venue there were venue employees clearly uniformed and stationed at various areas. There were several uniformed security guards roaming the crowds as well as a handful of State Troopers. Outside of the venue there were State Troopers directing traffic. Overall, a pretty standard showing of security and law enforcement for a concert of that size.

    At the most recent show, only one week after the mass shooting in Las Vegas things were very different. At the gate bags were more thoroughly checked. I was patted down, as well as getting a wand at the entrance. In the pit area there was more of a security presence in the form of uniformed security guards. The entire venue had more guards, police, and employees visible than I have ever seen at a concert before. I am happy to report that there was no incident at this show, it was an excellent performance. Even the artist addressed the events in Las Vegas and offered the crowd a message of hope, and resilience, telling us that we cannot allow hate to take over.

    This made me think about fear and living in the moment. Only one week after the deadliest mass shooting in our country at a concert, I made the choice to attend a show with 19,998 complete strangers. Did I think twice? Absolutely! Each time I was asked by a friend or professor if I thought going was a good idea I thought twice about my choice. My aunt who attended the show with me even asked if I was sure that I wanted to go because she had thought twice about it too. Bad things happen, life happens and we cannot control either, but should the fear of the potential bad keep us from living our lives?

    Sure I would have been guaranteed more safety had I stayed here on campus or at home instead of attending that show, but by doing that I would have let fear win. It’s okay to be scared, it’s okay to think twice, it’s okay to even cancel plans sometimes based on fear, but it is not okay to let fear run your life.

    Often we change and plan our entire lives around the fear that stems from recent events in society, such as the shooting in Vegas. The shows that bands played in the few days between the shooting and the show I attended, I saw many pictures of almost empty shows. Why? Put simply because of fear. If we let fear control our lives then we aren’t really living and we have let hate win the battle.