So I was chillin' with a friend today because it's "[insert friend name here] Sunday." Being hoodlum teenagers, we decided to go to the park, even though it was pitch black out (damn you daylight savings time). So we started to drive around and we realized, "Wow, it's dark!" We see a sketchy car, we freak out, I almost drive into a river, I do a U-y, I floor-it, we go to McDonalds. Ya know, the usual. Because we are ignorant, irresponsible teenagers, we go back. Of course. However we take a different route through the park and see two sketchy cars parked next to each other. Any one could guess this could only mean one of three things: they're doing drugs, having sex, or making bombs. [Insert friend name here] apparently sees a man standing by the road (damn liar), we drive through the forrest part of the park, hoping not to get raped, and then we leave and go to [insert friend of friend's name here]'s house.
First of all I would like to point out how random this event was. But that's Generation Y for you. But I wanted to discuss why exactly we went there the second time--we wanted to experience the sensation of fear. I learned about fear in my psychology class a few weeks ago, and apparently fear is only pleasureable when the individual realizes that there is no actual chance of them being harmed; this is why haunted houses and horror movies are popular. I guess [insert name here] and I didn't think we would actually get harmed because we did, infact, experience an adrenaline rush, a thrill.
Honestly, the only time I have ever truly feared for my life is when I, being the vacuous teenager I am, went to get gas at two in the morning with two friends. I pulled up to the first gas station I saw. It was obviously closed (the lights were all off), so I don't even know why I went up to it. There was this creepy, old man just standing there, leaning against his "rape van." I paused out of stupefaction. I saw him reaching into his pocket with this ghastly look on his face... I instantly floored it, almost crashing into a gas tank, while all three of us screamed. Next, no joke, he sprinted to his car and started following us. I was going 80 in a 40 zone--he was too, no shit. We were freaking out! The worst part was that my gas tank was past empty. I turned my lights out an sped up. We eventually lost him.
A read a book by Charles Darwin. I can really relate to the description of fear that he wrote of in The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals:
"Fear is often preceded by astonishment, and is so far akin to it, that both lead to the senses of sight and hearing being instantly aroused. In both cases the eyes and mouth are widely opened, and the eyebrows raised. The frightened man at first stands like a statue motionless and breathless, or crouches down as if instinctively to escape observation. The heart beats quickly and violently, so that it palpitates or knocks against the ribs... That the skin is much affected under the sense of great fear, we see in the marvelous manner in which perspiration immediately exudes from it... The hairs also on the skin stand erect; and the superficial muscles shiver. In connection with the disturbed action of the heart, the breathing is hurried. The salivary glands act imperfectly; the mouth becomes dry, and is often opened and shut" (p. 255, 290).
It's funny--when I watch a horror movie I always think to myself, "Why wouldn't they call the cops, or something?" But having a little taste of real fear, I now realize that your mind almost completely shuts down. You can't think logically when your body isn't functioning logically.
0 comments:
Post a Comment