Entry 16: EMERGENCY

Everyone has seen or heard of emergencies. TV, newspapers, and many other media sources are full of stories of people going through terrifying and life threatening ordeals. Have you ever been in a dangerous or emergency situation, such as a natural disaster, car crash, or a medical emergency? If so, what was the situation? How did it make you feel? If you have never been in an emergency situation yourself, how do you think you would react? Would you be able to control the fear and act effectively, or do you think you would panic? Would you freeze up, or run around in circles screaming? Or would you calmly take control and know just what to do? How can you prepare for emergencies? Do you think being prepared can help a person avoid panicking? In what way does how a person reacts to an emergency reveal his or her character?

•  I have never been in an emergency myself; at least, in my opinion. In my imagination, I believe that when I actually do end up in an emergency, the first thing I would do is swear. A lot. And I mean it. Of course, I would panic while swearing. But after my "swearing" period, I would try to think of ways that will solve the problem even though my panicking. Basically, I try to keep the appearance of being calm because I'm afraid that if I appeared like I'm in a panicking state, other people may then be affected and start to panic even more. I believe that it's hard to prepare for emergencies, because we never know when they happen, and we don't know what type of emergency will happen. All we can do is try to be as cautious as we can about the things that we do, and about the things that other people do. And when emergencies really do happening, one of the most important things that one has to do it to remain calm. Sometimes reactions can show the personality of a person. For example, if someone reacts by running frantically around, we can usually say that these people are the more open and the more active people (and thus not afraid to show that they are panicking). People who just freeze and don't do anything are likely to be introverted, because they do not know how to express their panic and keep all of it in their mind. People who are calm are usually the one who is more capable of reacting quickly to situations.