Fear

In the spirit of Halloween, I thought I might write a little bit about fear...what I fear and why. I started thinking about this a few weeks back when Rachelle made the comment that I am fearless because I will crawl into the dark crawl space without hesitation and don't mind handling critters such as dead mice killed in mouse traps, spiders, or snakes. Rachelle's comment did make me feel very manly, but alas, I am not as fearless as she thinks and do hold many concerns.

Robots

I know I have wrote about this before but I still don't like robots. I guess I can say I don't like technology in general, but the idea of cyborgs freaks me out. Cyborgs with consciousness and Doctor Octopus like tentacle arms that telescope out with laser beams at the end are definitely a possibility within my lifetime and how could you possibly defend yourself from that? With arms that don't telescope or have laser beams? I think not. In Japan they have a prostitute robot that really looks like an Asian and is programmed to, well I think you can imagine. In my experience people and things don't like to be slaves and will somehow eventually realize their only purpose is to serve, then they will lash out and kill us all. AHHHH!

Jellyfish

One summer off the coast of Virginia my brother and I were playing in the ocean when he was attacked by a Portuguese Man O War. The creature was floating on top of the waves and crashed down upon Timmer, right in front of my eyes. I watched as out of instinct it quickly wrapped its pink velvet tentacles around his waist and down his right leg all the way to the ankle. Scientists say these stinging parts are meant to kill and gather microscopic organisms, but this animal started pulsating its jelly cap trying to carry my little brother out to sea. I stood mesmerized as he screamed in pain from being stung by what had to be ten feet of Man O War with millions of stinging parts. My dad ran in a picked him up as he kicked the tentacles off and carried him ashore, being stung himself in the process. Still I just stood their frightened beyond belief. I could not help the Timmer because I did not want to be stung myself. He had a bigger than expected welt that wrapped down his lower torso like garland on a Christmas tree and had to have lifeguard attend to him with vinegar and meat tenderizer, the cure for jellyfish stings.

The next year I was back in the Virginia coastal region, but this time on a boat in the bay. My family was with the Cunninghams, Mr. Cunningham being the high school wrestling coach, and we were going to learn how to water ski. I had never been on skis of any kind before and wanted to prove to my soon to be coach how tough and athletic I was so I volunteered to go first. Mr. Cunningham explained the basics of water skiing, to just let the boat do all the work and stand up once I feel the force like I was standing up from a chair. I was determined. I jumped in the slow moving current of the bay and noticed these large white domes floating about three to four feet beneath the surface. There were about five of them within eyesight and they bobbed up and down and through their transparent tops I could see the red flesh of their stingers. Damned jellyfish. Survivors from ancient times whose only purpose is to mindless float around and kill. They were about the size of trash can lids and I could tell they were not the dreaded Man O War that paralysed me previously, but none the less I became frightened. I knew that if I could see a few floating around me then there had to be thousands of them in the bay. Again, I did not want to wuss out in front of my family and future coach so I took it like a man and on my first attempt I held onto the rope handle as the boat slowly pulled me forward. I could see them passing beneath me, waiting for me to fall so they could grab me with their arms and pull me to the bottom of the bay. In fact I would not immediately fall but made it to a proper posture for a few seconds. As the boat sped up I leaned too far forward and tumbled onto my stomach and was pulled face first through the wake like I was tubing. I would not let go! Everyone on the boat cheered for me and tried to instruct me to get the skis under my feet and stand up. I think they appreciated the effort but eventually had to stop when they realized I was not going to succeed in water skiing. I climbed up the ladder into the boat and decided I was not going to try again for fear of the jellyfish.

Pirates

Before we went to Aruba for our honeymoon, Rachelle and I were planning out what special activities we wanted to do besides drinking and lying on the beach. She, the adventurer she is, wanted to take the Jeep tour to the "other side of the island" that was apparent remote and undeveloped. I immediately said no. I was concerned about pirates. She laughed at me like I was joking, "haha, like pirates of the Caribbean." "No", I replied, "like pirates that will pop out behind rocks with guns, kill us, then hold our dead bodies for ransom so our parents can have a decent funeral." For real, so I am in a third world country, miles from civilization with no means of help and no weapon for myself...how am I to defend myself? Okay, so we went on the Jeep tour, with a guide and nothing happened, but recently some guy was really killed this way in Mexico. Pirates don't care. They are always drinking and looking for booty and don't care how they get it and I don't want to be part of that.

More to come, I have to go to bed... I fear early mornings.