In countless science fiction, fantasy, and horror movies and novels, you have the standard setup:
Some people in Normaland are living their mundane lives, when all of a sudden something absolutely freakin’ impossible happens. That old coffin actually has a real vampire inside; or the serial killings the police detective is investigating turn out to be the work of a demonic being; or the campers out in the woods run into a hungry alien carnivore; or you discover some ancient artifact that can really do supernatural magic. You get the idea.
So what would you do if something totally uncanny somehow happened to you? Would you freak? Be obsessed with finding out how this could be true, and telling the world? Just do what would turn out best for you (such as surviving, or getting rich) and never tell a soul?
I would freak out, but I would be really excited too (if my life were not in immediate danger). I would do what I had to to survive. I prolly would not tell anyone unless I really trusted them. If I told the world, you know what would happen: I’d either be thrown in the nuthatch or imprisoned in a lab or “questioned” by some secret government group.
Step 1: shit kittens
Step 2: shit more kittens
Step 3: shit litters
Step 4: take a deep breath
Step 5: take a large shot (Stoli or Absolute, please)
Step 6: see above
Step 7: deal with it (I hope).
On most things I expect I’d pause to try and explain it to myself but if I couldn’t I’d accept it.
{hijack}
But I’ve always laughed at the horror movies featuring the devil whose strength lies in the victim’s lack of faith. I’ve always thought the devil’s existence would automatically strengthen/create/reinforce/spontaneously-generate faith, thereby weakening the bad guy.
Just a random thought.
{/hijack}
Whenever I had nightmares as a kid I would always curl up in a corner somewhere and fall asleep. Somehow this made me immune to everything around me. i think if I was faced with “the impossible” I would do exactly that. (maybe eith the aid of lots and lots of valium first though)
oooh oooh I’ve got. It’s easy. Since it’s impossible, I don’t have to worry about it, it will never happen.
I curled up in my dreams mind you, not in real life
Well, I haven’t told anyone yet…
I have a cabin in the woods . . . I like to go there in the heat. Nobody there for me to greet, not in my cabin in the woods.
The cabin is in west virginia. High in the mountains. There’s a spring nearby and various stores within an hour. Lots of wood for burning and we’re (I’m) currently in the process of digging a root cellar of sorts. Using the rocks to make a stockpile should the impossible happen.
Also have a satellite dish up there . . . love the place to pieces. Only thing keeping me from being up there is the lack of an online connection. WebTV . . . how I yearn for thee.
lol
Les mis?
dpr, yes.
I wanted to do a “parody” of the whole song but couldn’t find the rest of the lyrics. Had another verse that started “I have 3 dogs who love their pups. They” but I couldn’t think of anything else.
Careful, you could hijack this whole thread.
Maybe we should start up a parody thread…
Back to another hijack (maybe), but what does everyone think of that old line about people not seeing a unicorn if one ever turned up, because they don’t believe in it. It’s usually used as a way of disparaging western ‘non-spiritual’ society. In my experience, people are more likely to think that something they see is extraordinary, even if it is actually ordinary, until they look closer and see that it is just some boring, normal thing. I could give lots of examples, but can’t spend too much time on this now. So what’s the general opinion?
HenrySpencer.
If the impossible happened…well, I’m not sure, but I might do something impossible like scream so loud the glass in 10 counties would break. After that the very possible hyperventilation might just kick in…
Are we talking normal invisible unicorns here or invisible Pink Unicorns…?
OK, the impossible, by definition, doesn’t happen. What you’re asking is, what if something happened that I had previously thought was impossible? My first reaction would be to try to understand it. After that, it depends on what it is… Some things, if they’re possible, are way too dangerous for me to trust to humanity. I’d rather not specify.
Incidentally, there’s an Asimov short story dealing with this very question: A physicist wakes up one day, and discovers that he can fly, but he doesn’t know why or how, and he can’t get anyone else to believe him. Can’t remember the title, though…
Can’t say it’s entirely impossible but I can tell how I react to something I thought would be impossible…
I walk into the general store across the street (before it burned down)
Me: Hey there Missy…WHOA! Are you pregnant?
Missy: Yep! 'bout three months now.
Me: Congrats! How’s the husband taking it?
Missy: He’s not my husband, he’s my boyfriend.
Me: Oh, he gonna marry you, then?
Missy: He asked but I don’t know him well enough to marry him.
Looooooooooooong pause on my part.
Me: Well, I just came in for some Doritos! Gotta go!
Am I alone in thinking she knew him well enough to think that it was IMPOSSIBLE!
Or am I just some kinda prude??
I can’t resist this…
tubagirl, you’ve recently been in one of those situations.
Tell us again how you reacted when your fiance said you were on the wagon for six weeks? 
hehehe
Well, I tend to go into the super-calm, analytical, take care of things mode when a crisis hits, so I’d have to go with the figure it out and go from there side of things. Leaving ample time for a breakdown of somesort afterwards.
Henry - that’s kind of the idea behind the “someone else’s problem” field in Douglas Adam’s hitchhiker stuff - people don’t want to see things that would generally disrupt their day, and therefore have an incredible capacity to ignore stuff.