The Old Coot learned survived
skills in 3rd grade.
By Merlin Lessler
I started watching a new movie the
other day; it portrayed what the world will be like if global warming isn’t curtailed:
horrific storms with hurricane force winds, unending forest fires, routine 500-year
floods, hail stones the size of automobiles. It was a futuristic look at the
world in its scariest scenario. I knew where it was going and quit watching
after the first fifteen minutes.
Later that same week, a psychiatrist was on
the radio, instructing parents on how to talk to their kids about global
warming, so they won’t live in fear with the constant pelting of media
scenarios that made them think they are doomed, along with the planet. It was
timely, and had some good advice to moderate climate change terror. Tell the
kids things like, “We will solve this problem; let’s do our part.”
I wish someone thought this way about
kids in my generation. We grew up under the cloud of an atomic war. For me, it
started in elementary school, as the Cold War with Russia heated up. We had air
raid drills, to “save” us in the event of a nuclear attack. We loved fire
drills; we got to go outside and wait on the playground. And, even though we
had to stay in line, it was still a lot of fun; we were out of the prison for fifteen
minutes. Air raid drills, on the other hand, required that we get under our
desks and face away from the widows (to avoid going blind from the flash of an
atomic bomb). We were told that our region was a target because of IBM and
other tech and defense companies that peppered the Triple Cities area. Like
this action would actually save us. What were they thinking?
To make matters worse, many popular
movies of the day had “end of the world” themes, with terrifying creatures, mutated
from the fallout of atomic bombs, stalking cities and the people who lived in
them. One of my favorites was the movie, “Them.” It
had a legion of giant ants killing and eating people who wandered near their
nest in an underground culvert. I still get a chill whenever I hear a squeaking
sound similar to that made by the giant ants.
Maybe that's why my generation listens to the
horrors of climate change portrayed on the media with a shrug, “Yeah, maybe
it'll happen.” We’ll do our part, but we think it hurts zealots’ credibility,
when every single snow storm or thunderstorm is blamed on climate change. It scares
kids, adults too, and reminds me of Chicken Little running around yelling that
the sky is falling when it was only an acorn that hit the ground. These threats
of doom have caused some young couples to fret over whether they should have children
and bring them into a world with hail stones the size of automobiles. We still
need to enjoy life, not live in constant dread of what might be. The earth’s climate
has changed many times and life has been able to adapt. We will too. Now, get under your desk and face away from
the window!
Comments, complaints? Send to
mlessler7@gmail.com
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