Columnist Susan Snyder: Panic is the enemy in this war

Friday, Nov. 16, 2001 | 4:33 a.m.

OK, so I was listening and brushing my teeth. He was crouching behind the laundry basket making loony eyes at a sock -- the one on my foot.

Anyway, the news story was about how U.S. hospitals aren't ready to deal with the aftermath of a major biological attack. For example, if the number of people who need respirators exceeds the number of respirators available, some people won't get them, the commentator said.

That means people who don't "deserve" to die, will.

Welcome to war.

I suppose I could be called callous or misguided or insensitive for failing to possess the right amount of fear over the recent events. One co-worker thinks I am reckless.

Maybe I am.

But I find it incredible to believe that so many Americans apparently don't get it -- still -- that we are not invincible. We are not immune to the conflicts that burden those who share our planet.

It is not all about us.

When American Airlines Flight 587 crashed Monday, the News Heads seemed almost reluctant to admit that maybe, just maybe, the thing crashed because planes sometimes do. There was more talk about what it meant to the walking fearful than of the people who lay dead in the wreckage.

Gee, will we be afraid to fly for Thanksgiving because we're "at war?" We have no idea what that means.

But I spoke with a couple of teenage girls in January who do know. They and their parents came here from war-torn Bosnia to start a new life.

Jelena Bosanac, 18, and her sister Svjetlana, 16, walked me to my car after I spent a few hours in their home. They lived in McCarran International Airport's flight path.

Jelena looked up at the dark sky and shuddered instinctively when a jet passed overhead. Bombs had followed the sound of planes flying overhead for so much of her young life that she didn't even realize she flinched until asked about it.

The teens had spent the three previous hours describing what it was like to live under constant tension, fear and real mortal danger while the Croats and Serbs waged war on each other.

Families were separated. The girls went three months without knowing the whereabouts or fate of their parents.

"You'd hear something drop, and you'd wonder if it was going to hit your house," Svjetlana said.

That is war.

We are fortunate here. We're still pretty secure compared to most places, and we still have tons of choices. But we seem too spoiled or arrogant or wrapped up in whatever fear we're spoon-fed to make good ones.

Figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show diabetes will contribute to 200,000 deaths this year -- most from the Type 2 variety linked to obesity and physical inactivity.

Smoking kills 400,000 people each year. Cardiovascular disease kills 2,600 a day. Anthrax killed four people.

We won't change our lifestyles, but we'll don gloves to open the mail and wring our hands over airline crashes we have never been able to prevent.

The cat, I think, has the right idea. Life is unpredictable and short.

Pounce while you can.