From a priest friend in 2005:

Our response to terrorist threats must of course involve personal vigilance and the government’s hunting down of malefactors before they can do further harm. But the most effective shield for ordinary citizens against the terrorists’ most powerful weapon is the dogged courage not to let these modern barbarians frighten us to capitulation. They have chosen to make non-combatants combatants, and whether we like it or not, we’re all combatants now. Therefore, we need to make the call whether we will be brave or cowardly combatants. Like an eighteen-year-old soldier when he first feels bullets flying past his head, we have to make the call whether we’re going to continue with the mission or give up. The mission most of us have is that of ordinary life, and to fulfill our mission, we must continue to go on with life as usual. The virtue of courage, which these times demand, is not an absence of fear, but the capacity to do what one should despite the fear. Because of the terrorist menace, many ordinary activities now have risks attached to them. But we make a great contribution to the defeat of terrorism every time we go on with them despite worries due to those risks.