Thanks for Scaring Me

A month ago I was in El Paso with family, and there was a sandstorm. Not much of a one as sandstorms go, but it was the first one our children had ever seen. Brown sky, low visibility, bit of thunder. I went out to close the windows on our Bad Robot, brought down some tipsy-looking flower pots from on top of a low wall, and went into the house and had an idea. I took #2 out into the enclosed front porch to see the sandstorm up close.

He has a hangup about bad weather. He was scared for the first half-minute or so we were out there. His mommy sensed terror and tried to recall the child inside during my lecture explaining what was happening outside. I think she was scared of the storm also, and it didn't help that she said in front of the boy that they were not allowed onto the porch when there was lightning/thunder (when she was a child). I finally managed through sheer obduracy to shoo her back inside and keep #2 out on the porch with me. He was as freaky as ever about the dusty wind and thunder, but I kept explaining to him what was going on, and ended up telling him that, after the sand there would likely be at least a light rain and then everything would be covered in mud.

#2 went in. #1 came out and was almost entirely uninterested and unperturbed. She likely just wanted to see what all the fuss had been about with Mommy. She went back in, and after a moment or two I went back in. I went in to the room where #2 was watching a movie and right out of left field he thanked me for explaining to him what was going on. He said he felt much more relaxed. I about did a back flip and told him to go tell his mother what he'd just told me. He did, as my mind tried to recover from the shock of such immediate and obvious results.

Later, we had a sprinkling of rain, just enough to cover everything in muddy water spots.

Hatred and Fear have the same mother: Ignorance.