Are you afraid?

Afraid? you bet, my time in Nam did that for me.

Think about that place every day. Can't get shed of it. Truth is it will never leave, it can't, it has you from the moment it dug into your brain and it has no intention of letting go. It has cost me soooo much the last 50 yrs, confusion, anger, regret, a couple of nights in jail, confused family and friends who did not know me anymore. Little triggers that bring back the pics and smells and the noise of combat, the FEAR, everyday you wonder if its my turn to meet my maker. What will God think of me when my time comes? Seeing faces of those who I took everything from. Did he have a loving wife, parents, kids, do those folks still think about him.
There is no glory in war, only misery and fear, loneliness, loss of friends and at that time hatred. Feelings of joy when you see the enemy dead, feelings of fear and sorrow for your friends who will never have anything ever again! Guilt, oh the guilt, why him and not me, sometimes only a few inches or feet away, the sound of pain, the smell and taste of blood and the high from your own adrenaline that floods your brain, hands shaking, heart racing, all senses working at their highest levels, nothing in life will be like that again, it is almost addictive. PTSD, the devils dope, gets you and there is no cure, hate it, hate it, hate it!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Afraid? you bet.
 
chic said:
Are people becoming more frightened?
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Most of the things listed are germ related. I'm not sure we get 'frightened' so much as grossed out. If someone started chewing a piece of gum and decided they didn't like the flavor and offered it to me with their saliva all over it, I don't think I'd be feeling 'fear', I'd be feeling 'ewwww! gross!'. But certainly small children (prior to exposure to older siblings eww!'ing at them) would be more willing to chew the gum. I wouldn't call them braver, just oblivious to social pressures regarding our culture's definitions of appropriate behavior.
I didn't know people now don't use the public bowling shoes? I haven't been bowling for I dunno 50 years? But I have been to a roller skating rink more recently (10 yrs) and people were using public skates. Also at the horse riding place that had rentals the people used public helmets.
I think there has been a shift (presumably normal and happening all through history) in manners and which things are appropriate or not.
 

Not to fear those public bowling shoes. My SIL is GM at a bowling center. Every single pair of "public" shoes is disinfected as soon as they're turned in. All of them. This is something that started long, long ago before Covid Cooties were ever heard of.

Flying. I hate flying.

Otherwise, I'm not particularly afraid of anything, but I am cautious.
 
chic said:
Are people becoming more frightened?
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Oh, I had another thought. There is a parasite that mice have that has been shown to affect human brains and cause humans to behave in more risky behavior. So perhaps fewer people are infected with mice parasites now and consequently it might be that the larger number of un-infected people are more 'frightened' of risky behavior.
 
squatting dog said:
Afraid? you bet, my time in Nam did that for me.

Think about that place every day. Can't get shed of it. Truth is it will never leave, it can't, it has you from the moment it dug into your brain and it has no intention of letting go. It has cost me soooo much the last 50 yrs, confusion, anger, regret, a couple of nights in jail, confused family and friends who did not know me anymore. Little triggers that bring back the pics and smells and the noise of combat, the FEAR, everyday you wonder if its my turn to meet my maker. What will God think of me when my time comes? Seeing faces of those who I took everything from. Did he have a loving wife, parents, kids, do those folks still think about him.
There is no glory in war, only misery and fear, loneliness, loss of friends and at that time hatred. Feelings of joy when you see the enemy dead, feelings of fear and sorrow for your friends who will never have anything ever again! Guilt, oh the guilt, why him and not me, sometimes only a few inches or feet away, the sound of pain, the smell and taste of blood and the high from your own adrenaline that floods your brain, hands shaking, heart racing, all senses working at their highest levels, nothing in life will be like that again, it is almost addictive. PTSD, the devils dope, gets you and there is no cure, hate it, hate it, hate it!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Afraid? you bet.
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I agree. The day that I walked off the plane, I had my rifle in-hand looking to shoot something. We got off the plane at Da Nang and ended up days later in Chu Lai and in one heck of a firefight. There were times when we would go a week or longer without bathing or shaving. I was only 19 and scared shitless. I was shot by a sniper just a few weeks short of going home and ended up in a hospital over in Okinawa. There, I witnessed a lot of men that now were amputees. It broke my heart knowing that these men were going home without arms and/or legs, not to mention the 58,000+ that didn't get to go home alive. Nighttime was the worse. Everyone was scared. If it wasn't the enemy, it was an animal or reptiles that we had to lookout for.

I thought that I was glad to get home, only to find out that the hostility towards me was still a threat. Instead of getting the peace finger, I only got the middle finger. VA benefits sucked and money for college was greatly exaggerated as I was told before enlistment. (Getting off topic. Sorry. Sometimes I get wound up.)
 
There are plenty of things to have a valid fear of, venomous snakes, gators, raging bear, home invasion, car jacking, unknown shooter in area etc. But out childhood antics and normal things we did without fear, wearing bowling shoes, swimming in a pond, etc has a become fearful due to the 'experts" who wasted money doing studies to find germs. 🤣
 
I was once told that fear is sin because it meant I wasn't trusting God...But that's not true. Fear is natural. I fear evil. It's a heads up to beware and take precautions and not become a part of evil or disobey God's will....or I can fear that natural consequences will follow.
 
Lara said:
I was once told that fear is sin because it meant I wasn't trusting God...But that's not true. Fear is natural. I fear evil. It's a heads up to beware and take precautions and not become a part of evil or disobey God's will....or I can fear that natural consequences will follow.
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Don't you think God understands you're human and feel fear sometimes?
 
When we were young, we did not understand the consequences of our behavior. (We were stupid.)
As we aged, we leaned the frailty of life and realized how precious life was, how fleeting and how easily it could be extinguished.
We are cautious; we observe the 'stupid' behavior of the young and wonder:
'Were we ever that dumb?'
Yes, we were.
 
charry said:
Yes I am afraid , at what’s at the end of my tunnel ☹️
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Really? Don't be afraid! I'm gonna run full speed with my arms in the air down that tunnel because i KNOW what's at the end!
It's more happiness, more joy, more bliss and more wonderment than you could ever imagine! I KNOW THIS!!!!
I'm going to be yelling, "Here I am! What's next?"
Don't be afraid!
 
chic said:
I thought you meant you feared He would punish you for being afraid. We're not perfect and omniscient. I believe He knows that.
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I see. No, I don't believe he would punish me because he paid my punishment already on the cross. But I do fear natural consequences for my disobedient choices outside His will. For instance, if I'm gluttonous like eat too much, smoke too much, drink too much, or murder someone, etc (two of the 10 commandments) then I will suffer natural consequences with health issues, prison, etc
 
chic said:
In my lifetime, I've eaten food that's fallen on the floor, rode 100 mph in a car, ( I was not driving), taken a bite out of something after someone else, and worn public bowling shoes from the bowling alley, and many other questionable things. Back when I did these things, it was not considered reckless. It was just normal. Are people becoming more frightened? It seems like they are. :unsure:
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I have eaten food that fell on the floor using the 3 seconds rule:D, I drove a car 112 mph on a newly constructed highway in a new car when I was young and foolish, I have eaten after others. I do feel God watches over children and fools. He /She certainty watched over me and still does..

Your mentioning the bowling shoes stopped me. I have not gone bowling for years and years and yuck now that I think about all those feet in the same shoes I rented I am grossed out.:confused: Good to hear they now disinfect them but I bet they didn't when I wore them
 
horseless carriage said:
In humans and other animals, fear is modulated by the process of cognition and learning. Thus, fear is judged as rational or appropriate and irrational or inappropriate. An irrational fear is called a phobia.

As a child I was fearless, although watching scary films and TV shows would spook me. As an adult I'm able to perceive the dangers more clearly and wouldn't take the risks that I did as a child, whether that is fear or caution is open to conjecture.

One fear that I have, and it's completely irrational, is the fear of flying.
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I do not think the fear of flying is irrational. I no longer fear flying though I went through years while my children were young that I avoided flying when I could. As I saw it..sure the stats say it is safer than so many other activities in which we engage but when there is a problem in flying it can be catastrophic.
 
Post #2 states an ,'irrational fear of flying.'
HuH? your 33K off the ground with no visible means of support, it is not irrational to be fearful,🧐 it is good sense.
 
Yes, I'm afraid but, isn't that the point of the 'new' normal? I mean isn't that the goal of the powers that be and main stream media, to keep us in fear or worried enough to keep us in line (controlled)? My hope is that someday (soon) we will have had enough of this BS and let it be known it's not working anymore. Don...
 
jerry old said:
Post #2 states an ,'irrational fear of flying.'
HuH? your 33K off the ground with no visible means of support, it is not irrational to be fearful,🧐 it is good sense.
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I'm glad that I never considered being afraid to fly. On a few occasions, I flew at 42,000 feet, but my preferred altitude was 37,000 feet. area.
 
Macfan said:
Yes, I'm afraid but, isn't that the point of the 'new' normal? I mean isn't that the goal of the powers that be and main stream media, to keep us in fear or worried enough to keep us in line (controlled)? My hope is that someday (soon) we will have had enough of this BS and let it be known it's not working anymore. Don...
Click to expand...
You're probably right, but the good news is that someday, maybe not in our lifetime, history will be able to report the truth and then all of these people involved in this revolution will be called out for what they are. ______________ Insert name here.
 


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