Thursday, March 6, 2008
After the Sirens
This week we read the story "After the Sirens". Now, I'm pretty sure most people would agree that a nuclear attack is a terrible thing to have happen, but do you think that any of us really thinks about it that as something that could threaten us. It almost seems too far fetched, even the thought of any kind of attack seems like something that could never happen to us, but what if it did? What do you think you would do if you heard that Victoria was going to be attacked? Would you be able to stay calm and controlled like the characters in the story or would you basically go into a state of shock and/or hysteria?
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16 comments:
In that sort of situation, there isn't much else to do than spend the last moments you have with your family and friends, take cover, and hope for the best. A nuclear explosion rarely leaves anything in its path, and unless your cover is far underground or very protected. If I knew something like that was going to happen, I wouldn't panic. I'd just sit back and enjoy the show.
I don't think we can make any form of accurate guess as to how we would react.
Your body controls most of it with the chemicals and hormones that are released, and clear thinking completly goes out the window.
As to what dakota said ("I'd just sit back and enjoy the show.")
Ehm, I hope you don't mean that.
I've been wondering about the setting of this story since I read it. Is it supposed to be some kind of dystopian future, or is it based in the present? I guess the ambiguity kind of adds to the suspense.
Anyway, I agree with Dakota, though I'd probably be scared out of my mind just out of pure shock. I know there'd be no way to survive (if I was as prepared as I am right now), so I would just spend my last moments panicking and hopefully spending time with my loved ones.
The thought of a nuclear attack on Victoria seems so far fetched that if it actually happened I don't know how I would react. I would want to think that I could be calm and collective like the characters in the story but in reality I don't think I would be. But like "crls spncr" said we can't accurately know how we are going to react.
Vancouver island is so small I really doubt it would ever be attacked by a nuclear bomb, but I guess this is a question of what you would do or not do. If Vancouver was attacked we would have a lot of the hit from the attack and be greatly effected. I would be in complete shock and have no idea what to do, all I can really hope for is if I had someone with me that knew what they were doing.
Well lets just assume for sake of argument that you moved and that city was attacked... or maybe 10 years from now and victoria is a huge city now.
I have no idea how I would react to that kind of news. I'd probably panic at first and then realize that it completely futile to panic. I'd realize that I needed to stay calm not only for my sanity but for the sanity of others. This is how I think I'd asct but in the long run a have no idea how my mind would react to this sort of trauma.
Theres not much you can do in a situation like that. You can either freak out and panic, weep and mope at how dying so young is unfair. Or you could take it in stride and accept whats going to happen and what you can do to change it. From what I've noticed in life not many people grasp the concept of doing what you can when you can and accepting what you can't.
I have no idea what I would do. I know I would be really afraid, just thinking about it. What if I heard it on the radio? I would be really panicked. I think I would get ready for the end of my life by gorging myself in completely unhealthy food and either play video games or cards with my family.
But seriously, as pointed out earlier, I really cannot predict the mental state I would be in. I can only hope that I would be able die calmly, and hopefully with dignity.
I dont think as a society..we really think about things that drastic happening to us. I know anything is possible, but things like a nuclear attack doesnt really enter my mind on a daily basis. I probably wouldnt know how to react because of this. I most likely would just freeze and waste time before my survival instincts jumped in.
To be honest, I really think that my reaction would have two stages. First, i would sink into a state of non-believing shock, then i would most likely panic. Thne again, as has been expressed already, we can't accurately predict what our reaction would be because we have never been faced with that sort of situatuion. Everyone hopes that they would keep their head in a crisis like that, but in the end we are all human and most of us are in no hurry to die; the thought sometimes even paralyzes us with fear.
If something like that happened, I'd try my best to take cover. After the blast, if i was alive, i would try and find out what happened to the people with me, and my closest friends. I think it would be interesting to experience something like that, in a virtual reality type way. Basically, it happened, then after a certain time, everything went back to normal.
I agree with Dakota. There is not much you can do in that sort of situation. All you can do is prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Although it would be terrifying, I would probably smother my fear and keep calm.
It almost seems that the people in the story had been preparing for something like that - they kept saying that it wasn't a false alarm this time, etc. - so in our defence, they were much more prepared than we would be. I think, however, if we did get into that situation, not many people would know what to do. Where would we all go? We don't usually have cellars to go to, and I don't think the average basement would do much good.
I could not imagine hearing the news that there would be a nuclear attack on my home and I had to take cover and try to stay alive. I would be so scared and would probably go into shock. I would want to have my closest friends and family with me so that if we survived then i would know that they are safe too. I cant imagine the horror that that occurance would bring and I would be terrified to go outside knowing that i was one of the few surviving people of my home.
In a situation like that running often doesn't help you very much. It is a wonder the people in the story survived by only taking cover in a cellar. And that this is very unusual shows how little survivors there were even probably many people went into their cellars.
If I knew the city I live in would be attacked with a nuclear bomb I think I wouldn't believe it at first. But after a few minutes I think I could stay calm but you can;t really tell how you will react when facing an extreme situation like that.
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