HOW NOT TO BREED CONFIDENCE

My mother taught me more than I realized until I was older and (hopefully) wiser.
For one thing, she often advised me that, when a loved one is ill or injured, you must approach the crisis with outward strength and calm. You must cover your fears, even if you have to pretend. You must instill belief in the patient so the patient can believe in himself. You can fall apart later.
I wonder if the president's mother ever said such a thing.
As a nation in trouble, we are afraid. We have lost our confidence and it has paralyzed us. Our fears magnify when our leaders address us with such sky-is-falling words as catastrophe, collapse ...
The knee-jerk reaction of our leaders has been akin to rushing into a hospital ward or emergency room and crying out, "If you're here, you must be dying; if we don't get you out immediately, it's curtains!"
A heck of a way to breed the return of our confidence.
R.A.T.