Part of the overall lack of fear is a size factor. Since early in high school I have been over six feet tall, and always very strong. Hockey and football throughout school also made me very unafraid of physical contact/confrontation. On top of my physique, I live in a "Right To Carry" state and I have exercised my right since I got my permit done at 21. So for the most part a "dark alley" scenario isn't scary to me. I'm bigger than most people, and I know their only weakness, bullets... I am only terrified of something large, and something small.
Something small: Spiders
Fuck spiders. I can't stand spiders. I do not like spiders at all. Not any spider. Even right now just typing about spiders makes feel unwell. And I know why I hate spiders so much.
Arachnophobia came out when I was seven. For some reason when it made it to VHS the next year someone thought that showing it to the eight year old was a great plan. Thanks a lot ass hole. That movie scared the shit out of me, even though I understand now that the effects are, by todays standards, laughable. Ugh... Seriously, even typing about it sucks.
Something large: Sharks
Let me get one thing straight. I love sharks. Sharks are bad ass creatures. I just don't want to be in the water anywhere near them. They seem like the ninjas of the sea, and just like ninjas, I know that they can just flip out and begin killing at any time.
A while back I was on vacation. I had spent the morning surfing, and like so many time before, I came off my board. In the water I struck a SMALL hammerhead shark. Probably no more than four feet long.
I have not been surfing since. At the end of the day I know that it was more afraid of me than I was of it. I had to be twice it's size and appeared out of nowhere... But that doesn't matter. It kind of put me off of surfing. Kind of like God giving me a smack to the back of the head. Maybe that sport isn't for me.
Since then I haven't been in the ocean, and I am pretty sure that will be the case for a while. :-) Something about hitting a damn shark and having nothing happen that makes me think I have used up all of my ocean related luck. Living in the Pacific Northwest we have incredibly cold ocean water anyways, so I have no need to go anywhere near that for now. Lake Washington is enough for me.
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