It's been a quiet news week in Toy Town. I have not heard any updates about the two armed store robberies that happened so close to home. They may never be solved; unlike TV shows, in real life many mysteries remain unexplained.

Most of us have been paying attention to news far outside our town--caucuses and primaries in other states, long awaited events in Washington that could never have turned out differently than they did, but riveted the attention of the media, anyway.

The real question we need to stay focused on, however, is this: how much do these events directly impact us?

Many people actually believe that there is some kind of "illegal immigration crisis" going on--even though they have never in their lives met an undocumented immigrant. Yet they don't want to fund programs to help the homeless and hungry in their own towns. People accept any Draconian laws for fear of "terrorism" even though the odds that they will ever be affected by a terrorist are extremely small. But they won't support gun control laws even though the chances that they or one of their loved ones will be injured or killed by a gun are, in America, very high. Toy Town residents worry about marijuana retail stores but fail to notice their neighbors dying of opioid overdoses.

Americans, in short, are notoriously bad at discerning what really threatens them, while getting all excited about things, or people, who represent virtually no threat at all.

We're gearing up to an election season right now. Never has it been more important to think logically and honestly. Do we want to cast our ballots out of fear, or out of reasoned judgment and hope for a better future? And if a politician is appealing to your fears, and not to hope for the future, can you really trust that politician?

I know what my instincts tell me: trust the leader who affirms that we're all in this together, and who wants to solve problems at home first before looking far away. Because for all our disagreements and polarization, we are all in this together. There's a saying, "on spaceship Earth, there are no passengers. There are only crew." No one here is just along for the ride. Making this the best place it can be--that's up to all of us.

That's so much easier to do when we all work together. You can trust me on this one.

Inanna Arthen