Search Forum Home   Starfist: Main  General Starfist Forum  Human Character...  Re: Human Character   kb7iuj 61 posts Joined 4/5/2006 Re: Human Character Posted: 26 Sep 06 1:33 AM   Finucane wrote I mean, nobody likes to brag on himself as being a hero, probably because nobody's sure what he'd do in an emergency and most of us aren't really sure we can cut the mustard. I actually had a nightmare about this sort of scenario less than a year ago. I'm not really afraid to do the right thing at my own expense... but in this dream, one of my brothers was being held hostage, and I'd given the local police the okay to do what needed doing, even if my brother might die. I was willing in the dream to sacrifice my own brother, with only the slightest hesitation, if it would help stop the criminals from doing anything worse. Worst of all, knowing myself, it did sound like something I might do. That shook me immensely, within the dream and afterward. I felt like I was willing to cross a line that should never be crossed, for the perception of some greater good that may not turn out the way I expected. Certainly I didn't feel like a hero in that dream. Sacrificing yourself is one thing. Sacrificing someone else is quite another, I'd say, and I hope I never find myself in that position again. Finucane 1932 posts Joined 1/25/2006 Re: Human Character Posted: 26 Sep 06 5:03 AM KB:  Fascinating dream!  It has story possibilities even if it has been done before.  Also, a lot's been written about what dreams really mean.  Some think they reflect deep-seated anxieties such as you might have if you were worried about someone close to you while you're awake.  But what would a person be willing to do if a choice such as yours in the dream had to be made?  Now if it came down to a choice between my gun collection and a gaggle of liberal Democrats...no problem! mclark 178 posts Joined 1/27/2006 Re: Human Character Posted: 26 Sep 06 11:25 PM I agree that it is difficult to be sure what a given person might do in an emergency situation, regardless of what they might have said in cold blood before the event.  When it comes to hot, well then we find out what they really meant, and even find out what we really meant.  I try to think ahead on situations that might crop up when I might be called upon to place myself in danger to help another, and I like to think I will do what is right, but when it comes down to it, what will I do?  I've been in emergency situations a couple of times before, and I have acted in what I believe was an honorable manner, so maybe I will be what I should be when the balloon really goes up.  It's scary though, thinking about it. And now for a "war story": Back in my field artillery days, I was serving as a forward observer for my arty battery at the artillery impact range at Ft. Lewis, when we heard a round impact behind the observation post instead of in front of us in the impact area.  I and a few others ran out of the bunker and looked in the wood behind us to see if we could see anything.  One of my guys, who had been tending to the remoted antenna we had set up back there was walking calmly towards the bunker, and I trotted over to meet him and asked him if he had heard that, to which he responded "Yeah, Sarge, right back there," and he pointed behind him and a bit to the northwest.  He had been about fifty or sixty yards from the impact (an 105mm HE round from some other battery, not ours).  Rather than being flustered, which he had had a perfect right to be, he just calmly sauntered along his way.  There wasn't anyone else back that way, so far as I knew, but I ran back to locate the place the round had hit anyway.  I was the first one to arrive at the impact site.  The ground was churned up into really nice fine dirt, and the trees and scrub around it had really interesting gouges in it, but there had been no-one nearby, so no-one was hurt.  I could still smell the explosive gases.  "Wow!"  was my first thought.  My second thought was "Yikes!"  Somewhere back a few miles was a gun tube being directed by some FO (not us), and it was still elevated and deflected for the exact same flight path as the round that made the crater I was standing next to.  And either the gun's loader had cut the charge too low on this shot, or the fire direction center had screwed up and gave the wrong charge or elevation to the gun crew.  And any second now, the FO who had called for this shot was going to think the shot had been a dud and he was going to call for a repeat.  And here I was standing at ground zero.  Holy crap!  Time to didi-mau, for sure.  But by the time I realized this, a few others arrived where I was, so I told them my thoughts about a repeat shot.  Fortunately, someone else had actually been thinking, and had ordered a check-fire on the range net before running to the impact site, so now the range was "cold" and nobody (theoretically) was shooting any more. SOMETIMES IT'S BETTER TO THINK FIRST, ACT LATER! Finucane 1932 posts Joined 1/25/2006 Re: Human Character Posted: 27 Sep 06 4:42 AM Mike:  A great story!  By the way, where did you pickup the phrase, "di di, mau"? kb7iuj 61 posts Joined 4/5/2006 Re: Human Character Posted: 27 Sep 06 8:51 PM  Finucane wrote KB: Fascinating dream! It has story possibilities even if it has been done before. So I'd been told on another sci-fi group I participate in and relayed the dream to. Too bad I don't have the time for it these days.  Page 2 of 10 Previous123...10Next    Starfist: Main  General Starfist Forum  Human Character... Flat View Tree View Oldest To Newest Newest To Oldest