KRAKOW — “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Hillary Clinton quoted FDR’s famous declaration during her acceptance of the Democratic nomination for president. And she also said that Americans aren’t fearful. They are frustrated and angry, she acknowledged, but not fearful.

Frustration and anger are definitely a good part of the reason Donald Trump is the Republican nominee for president.

But just about everywhere I go these days — including during a brief visit to Rome and a longer one here in Krakow, I run into many Americans, and they’re fearful. And so are the Europeans who ask what on Earth Americans are doing. Surely, there had to be better possibilities for president of the United States, they say to me, almost to a person.

I agreed with one thing Clinton said. Going after Trump, she warned against trusting anyone who says he or she is the only one who can fix things. That is, indeed, a dangerous assertion.

I’ve been in Krakow among crowds of people gathering for World Youth Day, a major Catholic celebration. On Wednesday, young people gathered at the largest venue in Krakow, Tauron Arena. They come here and sleep on the ground, even outdoors. They flocked to catch a glimpse of Pope Francis, who arrived here the same day.

These are a people of faith, who have tasted the alternative lifestyle that is Christianity. They are followers and friends of Jesus Christ. They want to be transformed by Him. They want to be instruments of His peace. If you saw the joy I saw on these faces, if you heard the desire for goodness and beauty here, you would have no fear.

Have you been smiled upon by fate? Chelsea Clinton said she had been during her introduction of her mother, the first woman presidential candidate to be nominated by one of the major political parties. If you have experienced such a blessing, you have a responsibility: You have been given a gift by the creator of the universe. You, in fact, are a gift.

Chelsea Clinton has the right idea there. But the young people swarming Krakow in recent days go a step farther. They see everything, especially their lives and the lives of each and every person they encounter, as beautiful, indispensable gifts from God. Their lives have not simply been smiled upon. They belong to Him. And so every day is a gift that must be given back to Him in love.

This attitude of gratitude is one reason that even an atheist should love religious freedom: Because people on fire with this kind of all-consuming love do work that benefits everyone. They build communities and nourish families. They renew culture and keep hope alive in the world, in service to the source of all that is good and merciful and just.

Hillary Clinton, during her acceptance speech, talked about human and civil rights, and even mentioned lives that are not disposable. But her politics don’t always reflect an understanding of these things. I have a renewed sense of hope, not because of almost eight years of President Obama, but because I have seen the miracle of young people choosing God, choosing the Beatitudes, choosing mercy over all that is important to the secular world.

Taking the Gospel seriously, being bold and creative in implementing Catholic social teaching, seeing more than a mere smile of fate, they will do great things. They will be true witnesses of hope, in the spirit of one of the seminal leaders of moral courage in the last century who spent years in Krakow as a student, priest and cardinal archbishop — and who seems still alive on the streets here — John Paul II.

Kathryn Jean Lopez is senior fellow at the National Review Institute, editor-at-large of National Review Online and founding director of Catholic Voices USA. She can be contacted at [email protected].

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