Fear Inducing Headlines

It’s true, headlines scare me. And I got a little bit scared after reading about the boy pinned in a rapids in the BWCA at the beginning of July. He was there for hours, they had no way to communicate with the outside world and the story could have had a very unhappy ending. He was with his church youth group and with the help of rescuers he lived and is able to tell his story of faith.

When I heard about this story Mike and Josh, along with their church group was about to embark on their week long Quetico Park wilderness canoe trip on the Falls Chain. This chain is known for current and waterfalls and the boys going along were 14 and 15-year-olds. It’s that, “I am invincible.” stage of life for boys. They did make it home without incidence and all went well.

How about the “Brain Eating Amoeba” headline?  A Minnesota boy died earlier this month from swimming in a lake because he developed a condition known as primary amebic meningoencephalitis or PAM.  The amoeba(Naegleria fowleri) is a single celled organism sometimes found in the sediment at the bottom of warm bodies of fresh water.  When water that contains this amoeba enters through the nose it makes its way to the brain and the result is almost always fatal.

These are scary and awful headlines indeed. I feel for the families and friends of the victims of these awful headlines. But these headlines are few and far between. More common are headlines describing kidnappings, attempted rapes, burglaries, fatal car crashes, shootings and more.

I hope people don’t alter their plans to go swimming in lakes or take canoe trips because of the headlines.  Even though they are scare inducing the chances of something like that happening are rare and the benefits of participating in these activities are endless.