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adrenaline, Alien, big foot, bungee, characters, chronic disease, chronic diseases, common man, creepy, disease, diseases, evil, Fear, fiction, fictional, freddy krueger, ghost, ghosts, halloween, harsh reality, heart, hellraiser, horror, horror movie, horror movies, human, human element, humans, ID4, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Jason Voorhees, Life, loch ness, loch ness monster, man, medical, medical condition, michael myers, monster, monsters, mountain climbing, movie, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, nessy, nightmare, nightmare on elm street, pinhead, plane, real horror, reality, sasquatch, scare, scared, scary, skydive, The Faculty, wuss
Recently, I asked my wife what she was afraid of. I stopped her before she could respond. Instead, I answered for her with, “Everything.” She did what she always does when I’m in “wise-ass” mode and slapped my arm. There was no basis for argument there. She knew I spoke the truth when I said that she was afraid of everything having been witness to many such occasions. One that is constant, and all too frequent, would be when we are in bed ready to retire for the night with all the lights off and we hear a slight creak on the floor. Usually, said event is followed with the question, “Did you hear that?” She then proceeds by climbing over me and invading my side of the bed, as if that would help ward off whatever she thinks is in the apartment. My given reaction to her ridiculous actions is, of course, to laugh at her. As is the case with all of her inexcusable invasion of space, there is nothing to be afraid of as there is really nothing ever there.
Ok, my turn. My wife returned the favor by asking me the same question of what I was afraid of. And, in unoriginal fashion, she answered for me just as I was about to respond with, “Oh right, nothing!” Of course, she was wrong and I felt compelled to do the right thing and point out that, well, she was wrong.
Sure, I’m not scared of Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees and Pinhead simply because they are not real. Of course, if they did exist, then I would be terrified of said characters. But, I know that they are not real and simply figments of someone’s creative mind. So why would I be afraid of them and their countless movies? The answer if self-explanatory. So what am I afraid of?
Life. Life is what scares me the most and is the only thing that can instill fear into my soul and make my heart pound. No, not my life but, rather, life 
as it happens around my everyday life from something simple as a job interview to the horrors of war. Monsters don’t exists to garner fear, but there is one element that is very real and exists in our everyday lives; the human element. So yes, as one would imagine, there is a distinct difference in the fear instilled from fictional elements such as novels and movies than that of fear incurred by the events that occur in everyday life. I am not afraid of the monster in the closet because there is no such thing, but I’m sure scared of that stalker creep (man or woman) that is hiding in the closet!
OK, OK, so some people would object and say that monsters exists, such as Nessy and Sasquatch. But do they, really? Aside from blurred images and sketchy video appearances of said monsters, there is no concrete evidence that either exist. The same can be said about ghosts. No such evidence of one exists yet people swear by their existence. For me, however, they don’t exist although they do make for interesting conversations and stories.
What about UFOs? Are they something to fear? If they are anything like the aliens in Alien, ID4, The Faculty, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, etc., then hell yes we should be afraid!
Still, the concept of being scared is one that intrigues me and something in which I very much so like to participate in. I suppose it is for the thrill and adrenaline rush I get out of being “scared”, so long as it’s within the refines of what’s considered to be safe, ie: watching a scary movie, reading a horror novel, telling scary stories etc. Some examples I don’t consider a safe way of instilling fear are: jumping out of a plane, bungee jumping, mountain climbing, or anything that involves the potential loss of life. Call me a wuss, call me what you like, but I’ll live a little longer (some may say that I’m not living, screw that, I am).
Another thing that scares me: unknown medical conditions that have no cure, or as some might believe, the cure is withheld from the public. It is scary to fathom the thought of possibly living the rest of your life, or the remainder of what time is left due to said condition, and knowing that you are going to die or possibly worsen as the condition progresses. Trust me, I know as I’m afflicted with the life-long chronic disease of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Even though this disease effects everyone differently, the thought of its progression taking a turn for the worse scares the shit out of me. This is what I have to go through everyday although I really try not to think about it. Still, this fear far outweighs anything Freddy Krueger can conjure up in a dream as I’ve had nightmares concerning this disease that, I think, will make him cringe.
So yes, I am scared of things that pertain, for the most part, to what I would deem as a harsh reality and not fiction. Who wouldn’t be afraid of people , especially if they fight and die for what they believe? There is no reasoning with such people and that is something that is simply frightening. So what scares you the most, fiction or non-fiction? Imaginary characters predestined or the common man who is unpredictable? I know where I stand in this matter. Do you? Feel free to chime in.
