Rain

I tend to think I do a pretty good job in avoiding media-induced panic.  I can brush off the swine flu; crime and murder and war slide off me like water off a duck's back.  There are a few things that get to me though; a few things that wake up that fear deep inside my belly and make me wonder if I am seeing the beginning of the end.

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill was one.  It got to me; I cried.  I'm embarrassed to admit it now, especially because nature is doing such a damn good job of cleaning up on it's own (http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-04-scientists-gulf-health-pre-spill.html), but I was terrified for a few months there.

One other thing that makes me feel that way is this drought.  I can see the world around me; the town thirty miles west of me basically burned to the ground.  There were two or three days last week when the whole city was covered in a light fog, except it wasn't fog, it was smoke.  Maybe it is my liberally-biased  history teachers prediction that leads to this fear; he told us that our children or grandchildren would be fighting wars over water.  This drought was bad enough that I could picture that happening.  The rational side of my mind knows the amazing power of nature, and knows that there's really nothing I can do, other than try to reduce my carbon footprint (gah... I feel like such a yuppy typing that), but that little imp of fear was worming it's way into my mind.

But it rained today.  And it was amazing.  It wasn't nearly enough to make up for what we haven't had, but it was something, and it felt so good to have raindrops splash against my skin again.  I have always loved the rain, and I had begun to miss it, in what seemed to be an almost physical way.

The fear is not gone, but I have comfort.