Boon's distinction between 'scared' and 'afraid'
Does Boon's line about being "scared" and "afraid" seem backwards to you? Before the horse race, Boon tells Lucius, "You can be sacred if you want - you can't help that - but don't be afraid, son," raising the question between the two. The more I thought about the line, the more I disagreed with Boon. While someone can scare you (transitive), being afraid is a state of being (intransitive). Fear can be respectful.
I re-read the original passage about the horse race in Faulkner's book, but didn't see Boon's line in the dialog. Did anyone else have have an argument for scared being a better state than afraid?