Kids shouldn’t have our worries

My son is 10 years old. He expressed concern about terrorists

launching nerve gas rockets at the United States. Actually, he is

concerned about one of the rockets landing in our yard.

He is worried about a nerve gas bomb because it is a topic of

discussion among his friends. Another reason is that the potential

for a war with Iraq was the lead story in a newsletter that is

distributed to children in schools across the country.

Another reason that this has appeared on his radar is that he has

started to read the newspaper. Right now, it’s mostly the comics, but

I know that he can see the headlines as he’s trying to find the funny

pages.

His nerve gas questions brought up my bad childhood memories of

the evil Russians and how we could be wiped off the face of the Earth

with about five minutes’ notice. Bomb shelters were everywhere,

“drop” drills were common in school (remember “duck, cover and

hold?”), and the doomsday clock was forever positioned at 11:59 p.m.

My own concerns make the nerve gas threat look like a tea party.

On the front page of Wednesday’s Los Angeles Times was a

photograph of former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn.

They were smiling and waving to the crowd below from a hotel balcony

in Oslo, Norway.

Something about the photograph was unusual, but it did not hit me

until I stared at it for another minute. Then I put two and two

together and saw that even though they were in Norway in

mid-December, there was not a trace of snow on the ground.

The next day, the Times ran a story inside that included a

photograph of a man standing on a ski slope in Anchorage, Alaska just

a few days before. In Anchorage in December, there was no snow.

Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh would call me an “environmental

wacko” because I believe that global warming is real and that it’s

here to stay.

From all I’ve read, even if we were to stop belching smoke and

other junk into the air tomorrow, reversing the damage we have done

would take years.

I’ve read that combating the effects of global warming will hurt

or end some major industries around the world.

What I don’t understand is why the captains of those industries

can’t understand that if we do what we’ve always done, Mother Nature

will take care of what we’ve failed to take care of ourselves. And it

won’t be the end of the auto or gas industries; it will be everything

and all of us.

There may be a good side to global warming. Since no one on the

planet can run or hide from it, it may the force we need to unify us

all toward one goal. Too bad it’s not something more positive.

I don’t worry about getting smallpox, although the media seem to

have decided that it’s the fear du jour for Americans. Sadly, it’s

likely to be another worry for my son and millions of other children.

The waves of fear we are generating are creating unnecessary

tension and anxiety in our children. I know this because I asked my

son where he was picking up some of the information he was feeding to

me. A lot of it is from his friends.

At this age, these boys and girls should be worried about their

hair or the status of Shaq and the Lakers or whether Nancy Drew is

going to get trapped inside the crypt. Grown-ups have no business

bombarding them with the problems we have created.

But that is exactly what is happening. Just as my friends and I

learned to live with monthly air raid siren tests and the complete

destruction of our planet by bombs, kids are now learning that the

fear of gas or bombs or plane crashes by terrorists is normal.

I’m sorry that this is not a light, cheery Christmas column. I’m

actually very excited about the season. But I can’t help but write

about the juxtaposition of so many recent events and try to make

something positive out of them.

So, here it is: The best Christmas gift we can give to our

children is a future without fear. That can wait until they’re older.

The biggest casualty of our campaign of fear is our children’s

loss of innocence. And I’d like to say that those who disagree have

their heads buried deep in the snow, only there doesn’t seem to be

any snow left.

* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and freelance writer.

Readers may leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at

(949) 642-6086.