Small Changes; BIG RETURNS

Sue:
I remember having these kinds of fears as a student. Of course my fear was nuclear winter, but it's the same kind of thing. I think that students do need to talk about their fears (many teachers and administrators disagree with that) and my job is to help them distinguish fact from fiction.
Interestingly, the biggest help that I personally had was from a parish priest in the late 80s. Some group was predicting the end of the world sometime in September and Father knew that many parishoners were concerned so he gave his entire homily on the end of the world. Basically, his message was this...if God is all-powerful why would He TELL us that the world was coming to an end? One would think He would want us to live our lives Rightly without the specter of doom hanging over our heads.
Of course, this isn't always appropriate for public schools, but you could pose the question "How would these cultures know the world will end?"
I think it also helps to point out the great things that are happening around the world that show brotherhood amongst all humans.

Fear of the future is as old as time itself. We reap what we sow -- we do not know what will happen tomorrow, however, if we as a society make wise choices then we will reap the benefits. It is a wise choice to help them become activists for positive change -- I always teach my students -- change what you can and learn to recognize what you can't. Worry isn't going to change anything one iota.

Of course, faith in God, for me, has a huge impact on my own belief system in this area that allows me to have peace amidst the storm, but as the previous commenter said, that is not always possible to discuss in a public situation.

Natalie:
Now that you mention it, I recall in earlier teaching years talking to students about nuclear winter. But then, the pictures about what might happen were not so vivid, nor were they replayed constantly and messaged to friends over and over.

It was easier then to encourage students to visualize themselves living in a generally kind world where only a mad person would press the button. They could wrap their minds around the logic that anyone who used a nuclear bomb was surely signing the death warrant of his own people as well because of the nature of nuclear fallout. That alone would prevent world leaders from unleashing their nuclear arsenals.

In my students' minds, however, the irresponsible act has already taken place; they had no say, and now all they can do is await the outcome. They replay the You Tube videos, share them in Facebook, and live their deaths over and over in their minds.

2 events particularly stand out from my own times in junior high (what they now call middle school) in the 1960's -- one is the death of Kennedy and the other is the 'duck and cover' drills during the Bay of Pigs incident when I'd have been about 9.

I still remember that there were several levels of alert ranging from ' you have enough time to run home' to ' the bombers are almost overhead and you have to get under your desk and protect your head.' The prevailing attitude at the time was that Canada was on the route between Russia and the USA and that we'd probably get hit by nukes if Soviet planes come over the North Pole.

In all the confusion, I don't ever recall being afraid of death -- so I must have believed or just assumed that my sturdy desk crammed full with scribblers and books would protect me.

You're right -- students need to know they can talk to us about their fears. I think we need to role model for them how we cope with our own fears on a day to day basis.

My approach was finally to say that whether their future is going to be short because a black hole is in the making or whether they lived to be old grannies, life should not be lived with regrets. The only way to achieve that is to live in the moment and to pack those moments full of joy, passion, and kindness to others.

Then we made jokes about whether they should do their Christmas shopping early in 2012 or wait until after Dec. 21, and I gave out Digestive biscuits.

I will only echo some of the other comments already posted. For me, too, it is my trust in God, His plan, and what's in the scriptures that assures me that CERN or that a meteor will not be the end of the world.

Of course, that does not mean that bad things will not happen between now and "the end" (which is really a new beginning!). But again, I am reminded that He is sovereign and always in control. As one speaker once said, "Did it ever occur to you that nothing ever occurred to God?" A simple question, but it's loaded, and it gave me a new perspective. He's never surprised and never says, "Oh, I didn't see that coming."

Now, of course, it's a touchy situation in a public forum with students, but...

Have we all not had fears in our lives that we have either had to conquer or let control us? Though the "possibility of the world ending" in 2012 is an maybe, there is also the fact that the world (or their lives) could end today as well!

When talking with my Sunday school students, in the past weeks, there were fears of the world ending -- perhaps not a "afraid" fear but more of the "what ifs". And the bottom line, they decided on was #1 We do not KNOW what the future holds. We never will. We can try to manipulate everything but we do not know how all the pieces fit together. There will always be decisions made without our consent. That is just part of life. #2 By fearing tomorrow, they are missing out on enjoying today.

Finally, most of the students I talked with on Sunday are believers and they have faith that God is in control no matter what man does, creates, or reaps on mankind. God is still in control. However, I know that you cannot discuss this within your classroom......

But I felt that their other 2 points they made are usable in any arena.

Sue:

The very first thing you must teach your students and take to heart yourself is that imagined stress is equal to real stress. Worrying about something that MIGHT happen causes your brain and body to undergo the same changes as when something stressful DOES happen. So the short answer is don't worry about things that you have no control over! If we worry about everything that could go wrong, that we have no control over, we would never open the front door, get in a car, get in a plane, walk down the street. So the best thing to do is Don't Worry, Be Happy!

Worrying wont change the outcome!

The second thing you must teach your students is that we all die. Some die young, some die old, some are killed, some die in their sleep. Death is a part of life, but that we shouldn't live our lives in fear of death. It's going to happen, nobody knows when, so don't worry about it.

Worrying wont change the outcome!

The third thing you must teach your students is that life is what you make it. Do they like it when someone does something special for them? Have them close their eyes and remember the last time someone did something special for them and how good it made them feel. Now explain that the person who made them feel special felt good as well. Now ask them to take one day a month, maybe their birth date (ex: the 17th of each month) and attempt to do something special and unexpected for someone else. Try to make that person feel as special as you did. Have them perform random acts of kindness.

The outcome could change someone's worries!

The point of life is not to focus on the end, but to enjoy, and help others enjoy, the middle.

Thanks, Mark and you're right. I think that's what we came to when we talked about living in the moment. If you live the days and try to activley make each one count for something, the longterm takes care of itself.

Still. I can't help feeling sad for them that their sense of future has this shadow over it. It should feel boundless and exciting and wide open before them. I do think they do their best not to worry, but I also know how hard it is to have those thoughts creep in and to have to consciously push them back into the depths.