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Printed from https://writing.com/main/newsletters/action/archives/id/2612-.html
Romance/Love: September 17, 2008 Issue [#2612]

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Romance/Love


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  Edited by: Fyn Author IconMail Icon
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Table of Contents

1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions

About This Newsletter

“Anxiety is love's greatest killer. It makes others feel as you might when a drowning man holds on to you. You want to save him, but you know he will strangle you with his panic.”
~~Anais Nin

“Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those, who do not write, compose, or paint can manage to escape the madness, the melancholia, the panic fear, which is inherent in a human condition”~~Graham Greene

“Doubts and mistrust are the mere panic of timid imagination, which the steadfast heart will conquer, and the large mind transcend.”~~Helen Keller

“Panic is a sudden desertion of us, and a going over to the enemy of our imagination.”
~~Christian Nevell Bovee

“A wave of panic passed over the vessel, and these rough and hardy men, who feared no mortal foe, shook with terror at the shadows of their own minds.~~”Arthur Conan Doyle, Sr.


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Letter from the editor

Another slice of life as seen from the convenience store.....

Recipe for a Full Blown Panic

Take one Hurricane aiming dead on for the nation's largest oil refineries.
Stir in a healthy dose of media madness screaming about prices jumping to 5 or 6 dollars a gallon..
Fold in two local gas stations (not mine) experiencing some sort of internal confusion resulting in an EIGHTY-FIVE CENT jump in their gas prices over mine.
Simmer in a Friday night pressure cooker and BAM!

Instant FULL BLOWN PANIC!

It took two cashiers, me, my other half and two police officers to control round-the-block lines of people screaming and yelling and punching and, generally, acting like two year olds. Then came dessert. I had to raise our prices. Not, mind you, to the extreme of $4.69 down the street, but a more reasonable $4.21.

*That's MY spot. I was here first. No, I was here first!!! Well, my car is bigger than yours! I'm blocked in. I want in. I can't get out, move your car! No, I'll lose my spot. I need gas. I didn't know my gas tank was on that side! It must have moved. (!!!) I NEED gas. OMG, they will run out before I get MY gas. Raising the price? You can't do that! Look! The station down the street is out of gas! I will not move my car until I get gas!*

Strains of Chicken Little....the sky is falling...the sky is falling!

$30,000 dollars later we are exhausted. Everyone got their gas....we didn't run out until midway through day 2 of the mob mentality. Today our gas is on sale for $4.17. It is teeming rain as the last dregs of TS Ike blow out over Michigan. And no one wants to admit that they were a part of the screaming, panic driven mob that descended on my station. Folks say they 'drove by and saw it.' They comment about the mayhem, but, no, they didn't 'need' gas that night. Uh huh...sure.

Panic is a most interesting phenomenon. All it took was someone telling someone else that their sister's girlfriend's mother-in-law saw gas for some exorbitant price and people go nuts! They seem to cease having rational thoughts. They revert to two-year old screaming and pushing. In short...they panic.

These are everyday customers in tiny town America. Not people trying to evacuate from a hurricane. Just everyday people. And friday night they showed a side of themselves that, I expect, come Saturday morning, were a bit embarrassed about. Least I hope they were!

And no, not everyone was to that extreme. Some folks actually felt sorry for us dealing with the hoards. Others complimented us for dealing with it all calmly and rationally and with a sense of humor. That was massively appreciated too!

But what keeps coming to mind is how easily the panic started and how it grew so quickly. A few lines in a newsblip online....a few others in a newspaper. Over heard comments. No one wanted to listen to the voice of reason. They all just went into panic mode.

Brings back memories of my dad telling me about a certain radio broadcast he heard as a child...about aliens coming to earth and how folks in NJ and NY were running panicked down the streets...my other half tells me his dad told him how folks were jumping out of skyscrapers in Detroit. Interesting what panic will do to people......one more thing to file away in the 'for future reference' mind-folder should I ever need to write a panicked scene.


Editor's Picks

 Pond Panic Open in new Window. (E)
Childhood memory
#1458633 by audra_branson Author IconMail Icon


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 Locked Up Open in new Window. (E)
A short poem about a recent, real life experience.
#1446281 by Broducce Author IconMail Icon


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#1426462 by Not Available.


 An End to the Suffering Open in new Window. (18+)
A short story about a kid's experience in a school shooting.
#1419501 by Ruffner Author IconMail Icon


After The Ice Open in new Window. (18+)
In a moment of panic, a man's life flashes before his eyes.
#1403971 by NickiD89 Author IconMail Icon


 Who Said That ? Open in new Window. (E)
electronics make life easier?
#1383174 by paulawood Author IconMail Icon

 
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Ask & Answer

Some feedback about my last newsletter....

Emily Jane Kingsley Author IconMail Icon wrote:I do not agree that divorce is a part of romance. It is the enemy of love. My friends parents have gone through horrible divorces and it has been really hard and difficult for her.

Of course it has been difficult. Important, life altering situations usually are. What I meant was that divorce and ending relationships go hand in hand with love and forever after. Two sides of a coin. When writing about one, the other is never far from mind because of what can or may happen. What is done is often done to prolong a marrage rather than doing something that could lead to a divorce. It (Life) is all about choices and the reasons behind those choices that get us to any particular point in time where a relationship might go one way or another.

Joy Author IconMail Icon wrote:Good newsletter, and thank you for handling the most unpleasant part of romance/love. Divorce is difficult to write about, but it still belongs with romance. As you pointed out, "all things are fair game in a writer's world"

Thanks, Joy.




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