The guys at the old Twin Cities radio station WCCO elevated “weather fear” to an art. (Yes, they were all guys except the recipes/cooking lady.) If there was any possible threat of rain or snow or drought or heat or humidity (“It’s not the heat, it’ the humidity “), the announcers intoned the danger several times an hour, getting more worked up as the day went on. The implication was that it would be safest to just stay home – preferably in the basement — until the danger had passed. And if there was a tornado warning, there was shouting and a play-by-play worthy of NBC sports.
Yet my brother and I were sent out to play in any weather – we liked it. We walked a mile or so to school (uphill both ways, as I remember), although my mom consented to drive us if it was way below zero and if she was sure the Studebaker wouldn’t get stuck. Usually we walked with friends but sometimes alone. Yes, by ourselves, even in elementary school.
It was the rule that girls wear dresses or skirts to school EXCEPT when it was really cold. Then we could wear “snow pants” or pants UNDER our dresses. Of course, we would remove the offending garments before class started.
Weather is only one of our concerns now and we are pretty well equipped to deal with the extremes, although having the car get stuck remains a primal winter fear for me. If this happens, you have to depend on “the kindness of strangers “to get out. Even the most independent spirit realizes how much you need other humans at such moments. As I think ahead to the snow predicted for Saturday night and the fact that I need to be at St. John’s by 7:45 a.m., I am grateful that the rector lives two blocks down the street and give me a ride if the Civic gets mired in the driveway. He’s dug me out before…
Weather fear is generally seasonal, but other kinds of fear are not. The fear inflicted on our children that they are in mortal danger in their classrooms is beyond comprehension. This is also a stomach-turning, gut-level fear for parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends. We are sacrificing our children because we as a country can’t solve a problem that many other countries have dealt with long ago. I’ve been a teacher and the idea that I should be packing heat appalls me.
This Sunday’s Gospel is about fear. Jesus and Peter both are terrified about what will come. The ruthless Roman Empire had their boot on the neck of the Jewish population and executions could be ordered if a particular ruler was simply in a bad mood and wanted to punish someone. And the preferred method of execution was a cross.
I don’t know if the Romans crucified children, but we are.
So we turn to our Scriptures, as if our lives depended on it.
See you in church.
Barbara
