Fires are less frightening today than they once were, because more and more houses are built of concrete, and concrete houses do not burn as easily as the old wooden ones
These days when I hear about these horrible incidents on the news I get the feeling that more and more young people are losing their ability to distinguish between real and virtual worlds
Thunder has been explained scientifically, and people no longer believe it is a sign that the gods are angry with them, so thunder, too, is a little less frightening