Jackassalope

A response to Amber's question about phobias.

As a child it’s easy to think you’re invincible. Your body is growing at an amazing rate, your bone’s seem to be more cartilage than calcium, and every joint can be torqued into circus-like freak show positions. All of this can happen without leaving a mark. It’s like being your very own Stretch Armstrong doll on a daily basis. But as you get older you start to realize that the magical world in which you live can also bite back. That’s when you start developing a sense of fear.

Babies aren’t scared because they haven’t felt the consequences. Toddlers aren't afraid because they don’t know the truth. Teenagers leap before they look because they’re still just too stupid. I’m mean really, we’ve all been there. We should have known better. In fact, we probably did know better. We just figured we could overcome it. But the older you get, the more you know, and with knowledge comes fear.

Cancer, aneurisms, malpractices, and just plain bad luck can strike at any moment. Hell, even spontaneous combustion becomes an immanent possibility by the time you reach 25 years of age. Knowledge is the catalyst for our phobias. You realize that mom and dad can’t protect you anymore, bad things happen to good people, and sometimes life just goes south for the winter. There’s no magic wand or fairy dust that can put you back together again, Humpty Dumpty didn’t just fall off the wall, he actually became a vegetable omelet. And when it’s over, it’s over. But remembering the moment of this realization is a different story. For some, knowledge came gradually. For others, it came all at once.

For me, it's been a combination of concussions, family deaths, and my wife entering into oncology; those stories are depressing. Oh well. That's the spice of life. One day you're here, and the next day your not.