Everyday Canvas

When Faced with Peril…

Prompt: What would you do if you suddenly found yourself in a terrifyingly dangerous situation? Could you keep your calm? What would be the first reasonable thought to occur to you?

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I was never in such a situation, but I think doing trial runs in one’s mind for such a situation would help. Even if the situation were to be a different one than what was imagined, the mind can adapt to it by analogy.

I guess I could keep my calm. I usually do. If I know of a dangerous situation before it happens, I usually get ready for it and hope for the best. We have been in two hurricanes and because we had taken precautions, I was calm even though some people who stayed with us lost it.

The worst dangers pop up when we least expect them, however. The closest thing that came to a sudden perilous situation was several decades ago when my cousin and I were listening to the radio, which suddenly burst in flames. Worst yet, the radio was on a shelf in a wall unit made of wood. My cousin screamed at me, “Do something!” although she was sitting closer to it. I ran to the wall unit, reached behind the unit and unplugged the radio. Then I threw a small afghan over the radio to smother the flames. It worked. In the meantime, my cousin was trembling, whining, and cowering where she sat. I had to turn to her and calm her down, afterwards. Luckily not much harm came from this. Even the shelves weren’t scorched. We just wiped them off and they were fine. The radio was a goner, of course.

The first reasonable thought that occurred to me, then, was to stop the fire before it grew. I don’t know what the reasonable thought would be in a more perilous situation, if it were to occur suddenly; say, someone with a submachine gun shooting at everyone in a crowded place. I don’t know what I’d do then. I’d probably call 911 if I could and then look for something to throw at him. Or maybe I’d lose it and cower and hide like my cousin did. It is very difficult to figure out what one can do when faced with such a situation, but trying to stop the attacker or the danger’s origin in some way has to be the only sane thing to do.