The Fears of Childhood...and Adulthood

 Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep.

If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. 

                                       Ominous Children's Prayer

There is a new short but thoughtful documentary film called For Emergency Use Only which explores the realities of childhood fears. It is somewhat autobiographical because Irish filmmaker Daire Collins shares his own childhood fears which stemmed from watching a post-9/11 TV interview about the possibility of a nearby nuclear plant being the target of terrorists. He lived with deep anxiety over the prospect despite the fact that there was little chance that could happen. He was a kid and didn't realize this, yet the prospect which he didn't share with the adults in his life haunted him. The family did have government issued iodine tablets to counteract the effects of radiation -- For Emergency Use Only -- but not enough for everyone. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsu9LjMSVI8

In the film he interviews adults about their memories, as well as children. The list of fears in lengthy and some of the concerns were and are real. A young man recalls going on a school trip to the top of one of the World Trade Centre towers shortly before the 9/11 destruction and how his relatively near miss affected him. Other fears include tsunamis and Y2K, school shootings and the climate crisis. One boy stands next to his sister and speaks with emotion about the possibility of contracting COVID and then infecting her, and possibly killing a grandparent with whom he lives.

The film is a reminder that fears, real and imagined, shouldn't be minimized and that we shouldn't assume that they don't exist for children just because they don't express them. Even our best efforts at reassurance can go awry. One of our grandchildren loved the book There's a Nightmare in My Closet which he asked for repeated when visiting. Then, despite the familiarity, and the message that there's nothing to fear, he became anxious about the possibility of spooky creatures in his closet, Fortunately this passed. 

Perhaps a picture book should be developed for adults who are afraid of vaccines, or are vaccinated but wonder if a fourth wave of COVID-19 could be fatal just the same. Re-entry into "normal" life will be tentative for many of us, regardless of age. I often wonder why the looming fears of 3 AM dissipate with the morning light. We need the reassurance that Christ is with us in the nighttime of our fears, and we can be loving companions to one another along the way. 

I will hold the Christ-light for you in the night-time of your fear;

I will hold my hand out to you, speak the peace you long to hear.

                                                                             The Servant Song